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The supreme test nj the nati 
and sen e together! 



We must <i!l speak, act, 
— Woodrow Wilson. 



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PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

GREAT SPEECHES 

AND OTHER 
HISTORY MAKING DOCUMENTS 




ll. S. I- (wtf***) 



' ' The world must be made safe for democracy. ' ' 

Woodrow Wilson. 



CHICAGO 

SraTONan<?VAN\fiET@ 

PUBLISHERS 



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Copyright 1917, 1918, 1919 
STANTON & VAN VLIET CO. 



>C!.A565513 
APR -I 1920 



CONTENTS 



President Wilson's Great Speeches 

page 

Introduction 7 

The Famous War Message to Congress, April 2, 1917 11 

The Declaration of War with Germany 23 

Text of the Joint Resolution of Congress, April 6. 
President Wilson's Address to His Fellow-Countrymen, 

April 16 24 

The Army Draft Law — Essential Provisions 30 

President's Proclamation Setting Date of Registration for 

the Draft 33 

Statement Declining Col. Roosevelt's Offer to Raise Volunteer 

Divisions for Immediate Service 36 

Statement on the Food-Control Program of the Government. . 39 
American Neutrality — Statement by the President, August 

19, 1914 43 

Address to Congress on Raising Additional Revenue, Septem- 
ber 4, 1914 46 

Annual Address (Message) to Congress, December 8, 1914... 50 

Address at Flag-Day Exercises, June 14, 1915 64 

Address at G. A. R. Celebration, September 26, 1915 68 

Address to Daughters of the American Revolution, October 

11, 1915 72 

3 



4 CONTENTS 

PAQ1 

Annual Address to Congress, December 7, 1915, Including 

Historic Eemarks on Disloyalty Within the Nation. . 79 

The Submarine Peril — Address to Congress, April 19, 1916. . 100 

President Wilson 's Inner Self Revealed — Address at National 

Press Club, May 15, 1916 107 

Address to the League to Enforce Peace, May 27, 1916 117 

On Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace — Address at Hodgenville, 

Kentucky, September 4, 1916 122 

Preventing a Great Railroad Strike — Address to Congress on 

the Threatening Situation, August 29, 1916 127 

Annual Address to Congress, December 5, 1916 136 

Last Hopes of Peace with Germany — Address to the United 

States Senate, January 22, 1917 144 

Letter from President Wilson, May 22, 1917, on the Causes 

of the War 153 

Diplomatic Relations Broken — Address to Congress, February 

3, 1917 154 

The War Clouds Thicken — Address to Congress, February 

26, 1917 160 

Second Inaugural Address, March 5, 1917 166 

Advice to New Citizens — Address at Philadelphia, May 

10, 1915 171 

First Address to Congress, Delivered at a Joint Session, 

April 8, 1913 176 

First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1913 180 

On Mexican Affairs — Address to Congress, August 27, 1913. . . 186 

At Independence Hall — Address in Philadelphia, July 4, 1914. . 194 

President Wilson on Censorship of the Press 204 



CONTENTS 5 

History-Making Documents 

PAcne 

Restraint* of United States Commerce — First Proclamation of 

the German Admiralty Declaring a Naval War Zone. . 205 

The American Protest 206 

Secretary Bryan to Ambassador Gerard. 

Use of American Flag by British Ships 209 

Ambassador Page to the Secretary of State. 

American Proposal for Agreement as to Neutral Ships 211 

Identic Note to England and Germany. 

The German Reply (Translation) 214 

Ambassador Gerard to the Secretary of State. 

British Statement on Submarine Warfare 217 

The British Ambassador to the Secretary of State. 

Rejoinder of the United States 219 

Secretary Bryan to Ambassador Page. 

The Attitude of France 222 

Ambassador Sharp to the Secretary of State. 

British Charges Against Germany 225 

Ambassador Page to the Secretary of State (Memoran- 
dum from Sir Edward Grey). 

Sales of Munitions — The Policy of the United States 231 

Secretary Bryan to the German Ambassador. 

When the Lusitania Was Sunk — First Note of Protest 235 

Secretary Bryan to Ambassador Gerard. 

Verdict of Coroner 's Jury in the Lusitania Case 240 

German Statement on the Lusitania Sinking 241 

British Reply to the Foregoing 242 

Second Lusitania Note to Germany 245 

Secretary of State ad Interim to Ambassador Gerard. 

Germany 'a Reply a Month Later 251 

The American Rejoinder 259 

Secretary Lansing to Ambassador Gerard. 



(J CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Germany's Broken Agreement Respecting Submarines 262 

Recall of Ambassador Dumba of Austria 262 

Recall of German Attaches 264 

The Diplomatic Correspondence, 

Submarines and Armed Merchantmen 267 

Informal and Confidential Letter to the Belligerent Powers. 

Sinking of the "Sussex" 272 

First Threat to Sever Diplomatic Relations with Germany. 

Facts in the " Sussex" Case 279 

Peace Note to the Powers 280 

Secretary of State to Ambassador Page. 

British Answer to American Peace Note 284 

Memorandum from the British Embassy. 

The German Answer 290 

Note from Foreign Minister Zimmerman. 

Germany 's Last Memorandum 291 

German Ambassador to Secretary of State. 

Conditions of Safety for American Ships 294 

Diplomatic Relations Severed 296 

Secretary Lansing to Ambassador von Bernstorff. 

American Minister Whitlock "Withdrawn from Belgium 300 

Statement Given to the Press March 24, 1917. 

Allied Agreement to Make No Separate Peace with Germany. . 302 

Act of Congress Providing for the ' ' Liberty Loan " 303 

The President's Note to Russia Stating Our War Aims 309 

M. Viviani's Speech to House of Representatives 313 

Address of the Prince of TJdine. 316 

Remarks of Right Hon. Arthur J. Balfour 321 

Facsimile Signatures of Members of the "War Congress". . . . 324 



CONTENTS 

PAGB 
President Wilson's Reply to the Second Peace Plea of the 

Pope, August 27, 1917 324 

President Wilson 's Address to the Annual Convention of the 
American Federation of Labor at Buffalo, N. Y., Novem- 
ber 12, 1917 328 

President Wilson's Address to Congress, Proclaiming the 

War Aims of the United States, January 8, 1918 339. 

President Wilson 's Third Liberty Loan Speech, Baltimore, 

Md., April 6, 1918 349 

The President Announces His Intention to Go to Paris 355 

The Four Points Supplementing the Fourteen Principles. . . . 373 

Five Fundamentals for a League of Nations 389 

President Wilson 's Speech in Rome 399 

The President 's Paris Speech 403 

His Speech to the Troops in France 409 

President Wilson 's London Speech 412 

League or Rebellion, Wilson Warns 418 



PRESIDENT WILSON'S 
GREAT SPEECHES 



INTRODUCTION 

The public addresses and state papers of "Woodrow 
"Wilson will undoubtedly occupy a place of pre-eminence 
among the historical records of the American nation. 
Posterity will fix their final value, but we of the present 
know and appreciate their importance in this most crit- 
ical period of the world's history. No messages to the 
American people, no diplomatic documents, were ever 
more fraught with interest to the average citizen, or 
touched more closely the lives and liberties of our myriad 
population. 

Humanity itself is deeply concerned with the subject- 
matter and the text of President "Wilson's utterances 
since the Great "War began. That is the keynote of many 
of these historic addresses to the Congress of the United 
States, public speeches on various occasions, and diplo- 
matic notes to belligerent powers, which have been care- 
fully culled from a great mass of available material for 
the purposes of this volume. Regard for the best inter- 
ests of humanity being their noble theme, they will ever 
be read by American citizens with patriotic pride. 

On the declaration by Congress of the existence of a 
state of war between the United States and Germany — 
this nation of a hundred and ten million peace-loving 
and democratic people aligned itself with practical soli- 

7 



8 INTRODUCTION 

darity behind its great leader in the White House. The 
strife of parties for political supremacy was laid aside 
as of minor consequence in a time of grave national 
danger. Patriotism became the sole standard of public 
action. Americans realized that there was in the White 
House not only a great man and a great President, but 
also a great patriot, whose leadership it was a solemn 
duty to follow. 

Marvelously patient as the President was during the 
earlier period of the European struggle and the first 
stages of German ruthlessness ; greatly as he desired to 
maintain an honorable peace and to keep his country out 
of war, he did not hesitate when the issue was finally 
forced upon him. The man of peace became a man of 
war, confident in the right, and in language that no pa- 
triot can misunderstand or fail to echo in his heart of 
hearts, Mr. Wilson gave to the world his most perfect 
reasons for drawing the sword in the cause of humanity. 

As he himself declared in the address to Congress that 
prefaced the declaration of war, "The world must be 
made safe for democracy." This memorable address, 
that carried hope and encouragement to the nations across 
the sea fighting for a lasting peace, is fittingly reproduced 
at the beginning of this book, where it stands as an 
undying exposition of the unanswerable reasons for our 
conflict with Germany. 

Seldom if ever has a President of the United States 
been called on to face responsibilities as great as those 
which have confronted Mr. Wilson. It is sufficient to 
say here that Woodrow Wilson has risen superior to every 
emergency and has at his back a united nation, imbued 
to the core with confidence in his leadership. 

Regarded from whatever standpoint they may be, 
President Wilson's state papers were models of interna- 



INTRODUCTION 9 

tional propriety, and will live in history as such. His 
speeches were enlightening, because so far as was pos- 
sible he took the people into his confidence as the grave 
international situation developed from time to time. 
Hence these papers and addresses furnish a wonderful 
political history of the Great "War in its relation to the 
interests of the United States. 

Underlying all of Mr. Wilson's addresses there is evi- 
dence of his sincere conviction that his country has a 
nobler mission to perform for civilization than that of 
merely safeguarding its own material interests, impor- 
tant as that consideration is to every American citizen. 
"The world must be made safe for democracy." And 
the civilized world looks to America to help make it safe. 
That is the idea which Mr. Wilson realizes and has made 
plain to his fellow-countrymen in his addresses. To read 
and study them is a patriotic duty. 

Sincerity is another keynote of all the War President 's 
utterances. Every American knows that Mr. Wilson 
was convinced almost against his will of the necessity 
for war. But the very sincerity that marked his efforts 
to keep the country out of war compelled his final action 
and prompted his determination to win the war. 

Seldom if ever has a series of speeches and documents 
like those in the following pages been so replete with sig- 
nificance or so clearly expressed. Even in the diplo- 
matic exchanges which have been selected for reproduc- 
tion there is a remarkable absence of the ambiguity usual 
in such documents. Hence their contents will appeal 
to the average patriotic reader as well as to the student 
of current history, and of the causes of the war. 

Long as the world shall last, these addresses will live. 
Our children and our children 's children will be reading 
them when the present generation shall have passed 



10 INTRODUCTION 

away, leaving the world the better off for our work for 
humanity in this war. And if any there be, calling them- 
selves American citizens, who harbor the shadow of a 
doubt as to the wisdom, nay the national necessity, of 
President Wilson 's policy toward the world war, leading 
to our final participation in the great struggle, let them 
read these addresses and the diplomatic, history-making 
documents which supplement and support them in these 
pages, — and be forever convinced. 

Little need be said as to the literary quality of these 
state papers. Our great President is a master of the 
English language, unquestionably the greatest master 
of English that ever occupied the presidential chair. 
Language is a weapon which he wields with unerring 
skill. He wastes no words, but like Shakespeare gives 
to each its proper weight and worth. His speeches are 
studded with literary gems and while they command and 
hold the interest of the average reader, they furnish 
mines of wealth for continuous study by those who seek 
models of good diction. 

Scholarly, sincere, wise, patriotic — these are the out- 
standing characteristics of Mr. Wilson's speeches and 
state papers, and the greatest of these is their patriotic 
quality, reflecting as an exemplar for every American 
citizen the devoted patriotism of our providential 
President. 



BIOGRAPHY 

Woodrow Wilson was born at Staunton, Va., December 28, 
1856; attended Davidson College, North Carolina, 1874-5; A.B., 
Princeton, 1879, A.M., 1882; graduated in law, University of 
Virginia, 1881, and practiced law in Atlanta, Ga., 1882-3; took 
a post-graduate course at Johns Hopkins University, 1882-3, 
obtaining degree of Ph.D. in 1886. 

On June 24, 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axsen, of Savan- 
nah, Ga. (died August 6, 1914). 

From 1885 to 1888 he was Associate Professor of History and 
Political Economy at Bryn Mawr College; 1888-1890, Professor 
of History and Political Economy, Wesleyan University; 1890- 
1895, Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Economy, Prince- 
ton University, and from 1895 to 1897, Professor of Jurisprudence 
at Princeton; Professor of Jurisprudence and Politics, Princeton, 
1897-1910, and President of Princeton University from 1902 to 
1910. From January 17, 1911, to March 1, 1912, he was Governor 
of New Jersey, and at the Democratic National Convention at 
Baltimore, 1912, was nominated for President of the United 
States. He was elected on November 4, 1912, receiving 435 
electoral votes against 88 for Theodore Roosevelt, Progressive, 
and 8 for William Howard Taft, Republican. 

On December 18, 1915, he married Edith Boiling Gait, of 
Washington, D. C. 

He was nominated for his second presidential term by the 
Democratic National Convention at St. Louis, June, 1916, and 
elected on November 7, 1916, receiving 276 electoral votes against 
255 for Charles E. Hughes, Republican, with a popular plurality 
of about 400,000. 

He is the author of "Congressional Government, A Study in 
American Politics" (1885); "The State — Elements of Historical 
and Practical Politics" (1889); "Division and Reunion, 1829- 
1889" (1893); "An Old Master, and Other Political Essays" 
(1893); "Mere Literature, and Other Essays" (1893); "George 
Washington" (1896); "A History of the American People" 
(1902); "Constitutional Government in the United States " 
(1908); "Free Life" (1913); "The New Freedom" (1913); 
"When a Man Comes to Himself" (1915); "On Being Human" 
(1916). 

On April 6, 1917, he issued a declaration of war against Ger- 
many, and against Austria on December 12, 1917. 

Left United States on December 4, 1918, to participate in 
Allied Peace Conference at Paris, France. 



WHY WE WENT TO WAR 

President Wilson's Famous Address at the Opening of 
the War Congress, April 2, 1917 

Gentlemen of the Congress : 

I have called the Congress into extraordinary session 
because there are serious, very serious, choices of policy 
to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither 
right nor constitutionally permissible that I should as- 
sume the responsibility of making. 

On the third of February last I officially laid before you 
the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German 
Government that on and after the first day of February 
it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of 
humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel 
that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain 
and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the 
ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the 
Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the 
German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since 
April of last year the Imperial Government had some- 
what restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in 
conformity with its promise then given to us that passen- 
ger boats should not be sunk and that due warning would 
be given to all other vessels which its submarines might 
seek to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape 
attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at 
least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. 
The precautions taken were meagre and haphazard 

11 



12 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

enough, as was proved in distressing instance after in- 
stance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly busi- 
ness, but a certain degree of restraint was observed. The 
new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of 
every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their 
cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruth- 
lessly sent to the bottom without warning and without 
thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels 
of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. 
Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely 
bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the lat- 
ter were provided with safe conduct through the pro- 
scribed areas by the German Government itself and were 
distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have 
been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of 
principle. 

I was for a little while unable to believe that such things 
would in fact be done by any government that had 
hitherto subscribed to the humane practices of civilized 
nations. International law had its origin in the attempt 
to set up some law which would be respected and ob- 
served upon the seas, where no nation had right of 
dominion and where lay the free highways of the world. 
By painful stage after stage has that law been built up, 
with meagre enough results, indeed, after all was accom- 
plished that could be accomplished, but always with a 
clear view, at least, of what the heart and conscience of 
mankind demanded. This minimum of right the Ger- 
man Government has swept aside under the plea of re- 
taliation and necessity and because it had no weapons 
which it could use at sea except these which it is impossi- 
ble to employ as it is employing them without throwing 
to the winds all scruples of humanity or of respect for 
the understandings that were supposed to underlie the 



GREAT SPEECHES 13 

intercourse of the world. I am not now thinking of the 
loss of property involved, immense and serious as that 
is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of 
the lives of non-combatants, men, women, and children, 
engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the dark- 
est periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and 
legitimate. Property can be paid for ; the lives of peace- 
ful and innocent people cannot be. The present German 
submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against 
mankind. 

It is a war against all nations. American ships have 
been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has 
stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and peo- 
ple of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk 
and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There 
has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all man- 
kind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet 
it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with 
a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment 
befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We 
must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be 
revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might 
of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human 
right, of which we are only a single champion. 

When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of 
February last I thought that it would suffice to assert our 
neutral rights with arms, our right to use the seas against 
unlawful interference, our right to keep our people safe 
against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it now 
appears, is impracticable. Because submarines are in 
effect outlaws when used as the German submarines have 
been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to 
defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations 



14 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

has assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves 
against privateers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase 
upon the open sea. It is common prudence in such cir- 
cumstances, grim necessity indeed, to endeavor to destroy 
them before they have shown their own intention. They 
must be dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. The 
German Government denies the right of neutrals to use 
arms at all within the areas of the sea which it has pro- 
scribed, even in the defense of rights which no modern 
publicist has ever before questioned their right to defend. 
The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which 
we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as 
beyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as 
pirates would be. Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough 
at best ; in such circumstances and in the face of such pre- 
tensions it is worse than ineffectual; it is likely only to 
produce what it was meant to prevent ; it is practically 
certain to draw us into the war without either the rights 
or the effectiveness of belligerents. There is one choice 
we cannot make, we are incapable of making : we will not 
choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred 
rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or vio- 
lated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves 
are no common wrongs; they cut to the very roots of 
human life. 

With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical 
character of the step I am taking and of the grave respon- 
sibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience 
to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the 
Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial Ger- 
man Government to be in fact nothing less than war 
against the government and people of the United States ; 
that it formally accept the status of belligerent which 



GREAT SPEECHES 15 

has thus been thrust upon it ; and that it take immediate 
steps not only to put the country in a more thorough 
state of defense but also to exert all its power and employ 
all its resources to bring the Government of the German 
Empire to terms and end the war. 

"What this will involve is clear. It will involve the 
utmost practicable cooperation in counsel and action with 
the governments now at war with Germany, and, as inci- 
dent to that, the extension to those governments of the 
most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources 
may so far as possible be added to theirs. It will involve 
the organization and mobilization of all the material 
resources of the country to supply the materials of war 
and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the most 
abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way 
possible. It will involve the immediate full equipment 
of the navy in all respects, but particularly in supplying 
it with the best means of dealing with the enemy's sub- 
marines. It will involve the immediate addition to the 
armed forces of the United States already provided for by 
law in case of war of at least five hundred thousand men, 
who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle 
of universal liability to service, and also the authorization 
of subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon 
as they may be needed and can be handled in training. 
It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate 
credits to the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as 
they can equitably be sustained by the present generation, 
by well conceived taxation. 

I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation 
because it seems to me that it would be most unwise to 
base the credits which will now be necessary entirely on 
money borrowed. It is our duty, I most respectfully 



16 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

urge, to protect our people so far as we may against the 
very serious hardships and evils which would be likely 
to arise out of the inflation which would be produced by 
vast loans. 

In carrying out the measures by which these things are 
to be accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the 
wisdom of interfering as little as possible in our own 
preparation and in the equipment of our own military 
forces with the duty, — for it will be a very practical duty, 
— of supplying the nations already at war with Germany 
with the materials which they can obtain only from us 
or by our assistance. They are in the field and we should 
help them in every way to be effective there. 

I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the sev- 
eral executive departments of the Government, for the 
consideration of your committees, measures for the accom- 
plishment of the several objects I have mentioned. I 
hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as 
having been framed after very careful thought by the 
branch of the Government upon which the responsibility 
of conducting the war and safeguarding the nation will 
most directly fall. 

While we do these things, these deeply momentous 
things, let us be very clear, and make very clear to all the 
world what our motives and our objects are. My own 
thought has not been driven from its habitual and normal 
course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and 
I do not believe that the thought of the nation has been 
altered or clouded by them. I have exactly the same 
things in mind now that I had in mind when I addressed 
the Senate on the twenty-second of January last; the 
same that I had in mind when I addressed the Congress 
on the third of February and on the twenty-sixth of Feb- 



GREAT SPEECHES 17 

ruary. Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the prin- 
ciples of peace and justice in the life of the world as 
against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst 
the really free and self-governed peoples of the world 
such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth 
ensure the observance of those principles. Neutrality is 
no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the 
world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the 
menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of 
autocratic governments backed by organized force which 
is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their 
people. We have seen the last of neutrality in such cir- 
cumstances. We are at the beginning of an age in which 
it will be insisted that the same standards of conduct and 
of responsibility for wrong done shall be observed among 
nations and their governments that are observed among 
the individual citizens of civilized states. 

We have no quarrel with the German people. We 
have no feeling toward them but one of sympathy and 
friendship. It was not upon their impulse that their 
Government acted in entering this war. It was not with 
their previous knowledge or approval. It was a war 
determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in 
the old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere con- 
sulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged 
in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambi- 
tious men who were accustomed to use their fellow men 
as pawns and tools. Self-governed nations do not fill 
their neighbor states with spies or set the course of in- 
trigue to bring about some critical posture of affairs 
which will give them an opportunity to strike and make 
conquest. Such designs can be successfully worked out 
only under cover and where no one has the right to ask 



18 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

questions. Cunningly contrived plans of deception or 
aggression, carried, it may be, from generation to gener- 
ation, can be worked out and kept from the light only 
within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully 
guarded confidences of a narrow and privileged class. 
They are happily impossible where public opinion com- 
mands and insists upon full information concerning all 
the nation 's affairs. 

A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained 
except by a partnership of democratic nations. No auto- 
cratic government could be trusted to keep faith within 
it or observe its covenants. It must be a league of honor, 
a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals 
away ; the plottings of inner circles who could plan what 
they would and render account to no one would be a cor- 
ruption seated at its very heart. Only free peoples can 
hold their purpose and their honor steady to a common 
end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow 
interest of their own. 

Does not every American feel that assurance has been 
added to our hope for the future peace of the world by 
the wonderful and heartening things that have been hap- 
pening within the last few weeks in Russia ? Russia was 
known by those who knew it best to have been always in 
fact democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her 
thought, in all the intimate relationships of her people 
that spoke their natural instinct, their habitual attitude 
toward life. The autocracy that crowned the summit of 
her political structure, long as it had stood and terrible aa 
was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in 
origin, character, or purpose ; and now it has been shaken 
off and the great, generous Russian people have been 
added in all their native majesty and might to the forces 



GEEAT SPEECHES 19 

that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice, and 
for peace. Here is a fit partner for a League of Honor. 

One of the things that has served to convince us that the 
Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our friend 
is that from the very outset of the present war it has 
filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices 
of government with spies and set criminal intrigues every- 
where afoot against our national unity of counsel, our 
peace within and without, our industries and our com- 
merce. Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here 
even before the war began ; and it is unhappily not a mat- 
ter of conjecture, but a fact proved in our courts of jus- 
tice that the intrigues which have more than once come 
perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the 
industries of the country have been carried on at the 
instigation, with the support, and even under the personal 
direction of official agents of the Imperial Government 
accredited to the Government of the United States. Even 
in checking these things and trying to extirpate them 
we have sought to put the most generous interpretation 
possible upon them because we knew that their source lay, 
not in any hostile feeling or purpose of the German people 
toward us (who were no doubt as ignorant of them as we 
ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a Gov- 
ernment that did what it pleased and told its people noth- 
ing. But they have played their part in serving to con- 
vince us at last that that Government entertains no real 
friendship for us and means to act against our peace and 
security at its convenience. That it means to stir up ene- 
mies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to 
the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence. 

We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose 
because we know that in such a government, following 



20 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

such methods, we can never have a friend; and that in 
the presence of its organized power, always lying in wait 
to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no 
assured security for the democratic governments of the 
world. We are now about to accept gage of battle with 
this natural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend 
the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pre- 
tensions and its power. "We are glad, now that we see 
the facts with no veil of false pretense about them, to 
fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the 
liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: 
for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege 
of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obed- 
ience. The world must be made safe for democracy. 
Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of 
political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We 
desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities 
for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices 
we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions 
of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when 
those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the 
freedom of nations can make them. 

Just because we fight without rancour and without 
selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we 
shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel 
confident, conduct our operations as belligerents with- 
out passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio 
the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be 
fighting for. 

I have said nothing of the governments allied with the 
Imperial Government of Germany because they have not 
made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right 
and our honor. The Austro-Hungarian Government has, 



GREAT SPEECHES 21 

indeed, avowed its unqualified endorsement and accept- 
ance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare 
adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German 
Government, and it has therefore not been possible for 
this Government to receive Count Tarnowski, the Am- 
bassador recently accredited to this Government by the 
Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; 
but that Government has not actually engaged in war- 
fare against citizens of the United States on the seas, and 
I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponing 
a discussion of our relations with the authorities at 
Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly 
forced into it because there are no other means of defend- 
ing our rights. 

It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves 
as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness 
because we act without animus, not in enmity towards a 
people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvan- 
tage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irre- 
sponsible government which has thrown aside all con- 
siderations of humanity and of right and is running 
amuck. We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of 
the German people, and shall desire nothing so much 
as the early re-establishment of intimate relations of 
mutual advantage between us — however hard it be may 
for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken 
from our hearts. We have borne with their present gov- 
ernment through all these bitter months because of that 
friendship — exercising a patience and forbearance which 
would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, 
still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our 
daily attitude and actions towards the millions of men 
and women of German birth and native sympathy who 



22 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

live amongst us and share our life, and we shall be proud 
to prove it towards all who are in fact loyal to their 
neighbors and to the Government in the hour of test. 
They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as 
if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. 
They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and 
restraining the few who may be of a different mind and 
purpose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt 
with with a firm hand of stern repression ; but, if it lifts 
its head at all, it will lift it only here and there and with- 
out countenance except from a lawless and malignant few. 
It is a distressing and oppressive duty, Gentlemen of 
the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing 
you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial 
and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead 
this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible 
and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to 
be in the balance. But the right is more precious than 
peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have 
always carried nearest our hearts — for democracy, for 
the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice 
in their own governments, for the rights and liberties 
of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by 
such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and 
safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. 
To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, 
everything that we are and everything that we have, 
with the pride of those who know that the day has come 
when America is privileged to spend her blood and her 
might for the principles that gave her birth and happi- 
ness and the peace which she ha£ treasured. God helping 
her, she can do no other. 



GREAT SPEECHES 23 

THE DECLARATION OF WAR 

Sixty-Fifth Congress of the United States of America 

At the first session, begun and held at the City of 
Washington on Monday, the second day of April, one 
thousand nine hundred and seventeen. 

Joint resolution declaring that a state of war exists 
between the Imperial German Government and the Gov- 
ernment and the people of the United States and making 
provision to prosecute the same. 

Whereas the Imperial German Government has com- 
mitted repeated acts of war against the Government and 
the people of the United States of America; therefore, 
be it 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
That the state of war between the United States and the 
Imperial German Government which has thus been thrust 
upon the United States is hereby formally declared ; and 
that the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and 
directed to employ the entire naval and military forces 
of the United States and the resources of the Govern- 
ment to carry on war against the Imperial German Gov- 
ernment ; and to bring the conflict to a successful termi- 
nation all of the resources of the country are hereby 
pledged by the Congress of the United States. 

Champ Clark, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Thos. R. Marshall, 
Vice-President of the United States and 
President of the Senate. 
Approved, April 6, 1917, 
Woodrow Wilson. 



24 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

PRESIDENT WILSON'S ADDRESS TO 
HIS FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN 

April 16, 1917 

My Fellow-Countrymen : 

The entrance of our own beloved country into the grim 
and terrible war for democracy and human rights which 
has shaken the world creates so many problems of national 
life and action which call for immediate consideration 
and settlement that I hope you will permit me to address 
to you a few words of earnest counsel and appeal with 
regard to them. 

We are rapidly putting our navy upon an effective war 
footing and are about to create and equip a great army, 
but these are the simplest parts of the great task to which 
we have addressed ourselves. There is not a single selfish 
element, so far as I can see, in the cause we are fighting 
for. We are fighting for what we believe and wish to be 
the rights of mankind and for the future peace and se- 
curity of the world. To do this great thing worthily and 
successfully we must devote ourselves to the service 
without regard to profit or material advantage and with 
an energy and intelligence that will rise to the level of 
the enterprise itself. We must realize to the full how 
great the task is and how many things, how many kinds 
and elements of capacity and service and self-sacrifice, 
it involves. 

These, then, are the things we must do, and do well, 
besides fighting — the things without which mere fight- 
ing would be fruitless : 

We must supply abundant food for ourselves and for 
our armies and our seamen not only, but also for a large 



GEEAT SPEECHES 2fc 

part of the nations with whom we have now made coin 
mon cause, in whose support and by whose sides we shall 
be fighting; 

We must supply ships by the hundreds out of our ship- 
yards to carry to the other side of the sea, submarines or 
no submarines, what will every day be needed there, and 
abundant materials out of our fields and our mines and 
our factories with which not only to clothe and equip 
our own forces on land and sea but also to clothe and 
support our people for whom the gallant fellows under 
arms can no longer work, to help clothe and equip the 
armies with which we are co-operating in Europe, and to 
keep the looms and manufactories there in raw material ; 
coal to keep the fires going in ships at sea and in the fur- 
naces of hundreds of factories across the sea; steel out 
of which to make arms and ammunition both here and 
there ; rails for worn-out railways back of the fighting 
fronts; locomotives and rolling stock to take the place 
of those every day going to pieces; mules, horses, cattle 
for labor and for military service ; everything with which 
the people of England and France and Italy and Russia 
have usually supplied themselves but can not now afford 
the men, the materials, or the machinery to make. 

It is evident to every thinking man that our indus- 
tries, on the farms, in the shipyards, in the mines, in 
the factories, must be made more prolific and more effi- 
cient than ever and that they must be more economically 
managed and better adapted to the particular require- 
ments of our task than they have been ; and what I want 
to say is that the men and the women who devote their 
thought and their energy to these things will be serving 
the country and conducting the fight for peace and 
freedom just as truly and just as effectively as the men 



26 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

on the battlefield or in the trenches. The industrial 
forces of the country, men and women alike, will be a 
great national, a great international, Service Army — a 
notable and honored host engaged in the service of the 
nation and the world, the efficient friends and saviors 
of free men everywhere. Thousands, nay, hundreds of 
thousands, of men otherwise liable to military service 
will of right and necessity be excused from that service 
and assigned to the fundamental, sustaining work of the 
fields and factories and mines, and they will be as much 
part of the great patriotic forces of the nation as the 
men under fire. 

I take the liberty, therefore, of addressing this word 
to the farmers of the country and to all who work on the 
farms : The supreme need of our own nation and of the 
nations with which we are co-operating is an abundance 
of supplies, and especially of foodstuffs. The impor- 
tance of an adequate food supply, especially for the 
present year, is superlative. Without abundant food, 
alike for the armies and the peoples now at war, the 
whole great enterprise upon which we have embarked 
will break down and fail. The world 's food reserves are 
low. Not only during the present emergency but for some 
time after peace shall come both our own people and a 
large proportion of the people of Europe must rely upon 
the harvests in America. Upon the farmers of this coun- 
try, therefore, in large measure, rests the fate of the war 
and the fate of the nations. May the nation not count 
upon them to omit no step that will increase the produc- 
tion of their land or that will bring about the most 
effectual co-operation in the sale and distribution of their 
products? The time is short. It is of the most impera- 
tive importance that everything possible be done and 



GREAT SPEECHES 27 

done immediately to make sure of large harvests. I call 
upon young men and old alike and upon the able-bodied 
boys of the land to accept and act upon this duty — to turn 
in hosts to the farms and make certain that no pains 
and no labor is lacking in this great matter. 

I particularly appeal to the farmers of the South to 
plant abundant foodstuffs as well as cotton. They can 
show their patriotism in no better or more convincing 
way than by resisting the great temptation of the pres- 
ent price of cotton and helping, helping upon a great 
scale, to feed the nation and the peoples everywhere 
who are fighting for their liberties and for our own. The 
variety of their crops will be the visible measure of 
their comprehension of their national duty. 

The Government of the United States and the govern- 
ments of the several States stand ready to co-operate. 
They will do everything possible to assist farmers in se- 
curing an adequate supply of seed, an adequate force of 
laborers when they are most needed, at harvest time, 
and the means of expediting shipments of fertilizers and 
farm machinery, as well as of the crops themselves when 
harvested. The course of trade shall be as unhampered 
as it is possible to make it and there shall be no unwar- 
ranted manipulation of the nation 's food supply by those 
who handle it on its way to the consumer. This is our 
opportunity to demonstrate the efficiency of a great De- 
mocracy and we shall not fall short of it ! 

This let me say to the middlemen of every sort, whether 
they are handling our foodstuffs or our raw materials 
of manufacture or the products of our mills and factories : 
The eyes of the country will be especially upon you. This 
is your opportunity for signal service, efficient and dis- 
interested. The country expects you, as it expects all 



28 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

others, to forego unusual profits, to organize and expedite 
shipments of supplies of every kind, but especially of 
food, with an eye to the service you are rendering and in 
the spirit of those who enlist in the ranks, for their 
people, not for themselves. I shall confidently expect 
you to deserve and win the confidence of people of every 
sort and station. 

To the men who run the railways of the country, 
"whether they be managers or operative employees, let me 
say that the railways are the arteries of the nation 's life 
and that upon them rests the immense responsibility of 
seeing to it that those arteries suffer no obstruction of 
any kind, no inefficiency or slackened power. To the 
merchant let me suggest the motto, "Small profits and 
quick service;" and to the shipbuilder the thought that 
the life of the war depends upon him. The food and the 
war supplies must be carried across the seas no matter 
how many ships are sent to the bottom. The places of 
those that go down must be supplied and supplied at 
once. To the miner let me say that he stands where the 
farmer does : the work of the world waits on him. If he 
slackens or fails, armies and statesmen are helpless. He 
also is enlisted in the great Service Army. The manu- 
facturer does not need to be told, I hope, that the nation 
looks to him to speed and perfect every process; and I 
want only to remind his employees that their service is 
absolutely indispensable and is counted on by every man 
who loves the country and its liberties. 

Let me suggest, also, that everyone who creates or culti- 
vates a garden helps, and helps greatly, to solve the 
problem of the feeding of the nations; and that every 
housewife who practices strict economy puts herself in 
the ranks of those who serve the nation. This is the time 



GREAT SPEECHES 29 

for America to correct her unpardonable fault of waste- 
fulness and extravagance. Let every man and every 
woman assume the duty of careful, provident use and 
expenditure as a public duty, as a dictate of patriotism 
which no one can now expect ever to be excused or for- 
given for ignoring. 

In the hope that this statement of the needs of the 
nation and of the world in this hour of supreme crisis may 
stimulate those to whom it comes and remind all who need 
reminder of the solemn duties of a time such as the world 
has never seen before, I beg that all editors and pub- 
lishers everywhere will give as prominent publication 
and as wide circulation as possible to this appeal. I 
renture to suggest, also, to all advertising agencies that 
they would perhaps render a very substantial and timely 
service to the country if they would give it widespread 
repetition. And I hope that clergymen will not think 
the theme of it an unworthy or inappropriate subject of 
comment and homily from their pulpits. 

The supreme test of the nation has come. We must 
all speak, act, and serve together ! 

Woodbow Wilson. 



THE ARMY DRAFT LAW 

Essential Provisions as Quoted by the President in His 

Proclamation of May 18, 1917, Setting the 

Day of Registration 

Sec. 5. That all male persons between the ages of 21 
and 30, both inclusive, shall be subject to registration in 
accordance with regulations to be prescribed by the presi- 
dent; and upon proclamation by the president or other 
public notice given by him or by his direction stating the 
time and place of such registration it shall be the duty 
of all persons of the designated ages, except officers and 
enlisted men of the regular army, the navy, and the na- 
tional guard and naval militia, while in the service of the 
United States, to present themselves for and submit to 
registration under the provisions of this act, and every 
such person shall be deemed to have notice of the re- 
quirements of this act upon the publication of said proc- 
lamation or other notice as aforesaid given by the presi- 
dent or by his direction ; and any person who shall will- 
fully fail or refuse to present himself for registration or 
to submit thereto as herein provided shall be guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction in the District 
court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, 
be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year, 
and shall thereupon be duly registered, provided that in 
the call of the docket precedence shall be given in courts 
trying the same to the trial of criminal proceedings under 
this act. 

30 



AEMY DRAFT LAW 31 

Provided further, that persons shall be subject to reg- 
istration, as herein provided, who shall have attained 
their twenty-first birthday and who shall not have at- 
tained their thirty-first birthday on or before the day 
set for the registration, and all persons so registered shall 
be and remain subject to draft into the forces hereby au- 
thorized, unless exempted or excused therefrom as in this 
act provided. 

Provided, further, that in the case of temporary ab- 
sence from actual place of legal residence of any person 
liable to registration as provided herein, such registra- 
tion may be made by mail under regulations to be pre- 
scribed by the president. 

Sec. 6. That the president is hereby authorized to 
utilize the service of any or all departments and any or 
all officers or agents of the United States and of the sev- 
eral states, territories, and the District of Columbia, and 
subdivisions thereof, in the execution of this act, and all 
officers and agents of the United States and of the several 
states, territories, and subdivisions thereof, and of the 
District of Columbia, and all persons designated or ap- 
pointed under regulations prescribed by the president, 
whether such appointments are made by the president 
himself or by the governor or other officer of any state 
or territory to perform any duty in the execution of this 
act, are hereby required to perform such duty as the 
president shall order or direct, and all such officers and 
agents and persons so designated or appointed shall 
hereby have full authority for all acts done by them in 
the execution of this act by the direction of the president. 
Correspondence in the execution of this act may be car- 
ried in penalty envelopes bearing the frank of the war 
department. 

Any person charged as herein provided with the duty 



32 ARMY DRAFT LAW 

of carrying into effect any of the provisions of this act 
or the regulations made or directions given thereunder 
who shall fail or neglect to perform such duty, and any 
person charged with such duty or having and exercising 
any authority under said act, regulations, or directions 
who shall knowingly make or be a party to the making 
of any false or incorrect registration, physical examina- 
tion, exemption, enlistment, enrollment, or muster; and 
any person who shall make or be a party to the making 
of any false statement or certificate as to the fitness or 
liability of himself or any other person for service under 
the provisions of this act or regulations made by the 
president thereunder, or otherwise evades or aids another 
to evade the requirements of this act or of said regula- 
tions, or who, in any manner, shall fail or neglect fully 
to perform any duty required of him in the execution of 
this act, shall, if not subject to military law, be guilty of 
a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction in the District court 
of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, be pun- 
ished by imprisonment for not more than one year, or, 
if subject to military law, shall be tried by court martial 
and suffer such punishment as a court martial may direct. 



PROCLAMATION OF MAY 18, 1917 

Naming the Day of Registration (June 5) for All 
Citizens Liable to Draft Under the Provi- 
sions of the Foregoing Law 

I, Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States, 
do call upon the governor of each of the several states and 
territories, the board of commissioners of the District of 
Columbia, and all officers and agents of the several states 
and territories, of the District of Columbia, and of the 
eounties and municipalities therein, to perform certain 
duties in the execution of the foregoing law, which duties 
will be communicated to them directly in regulations of 
even date herewith. 

And I do further proclaim and give notice to all per- 
sons subject to registration in the several states and in 
the District of Columbia in accordance with the above 
law, that the time and place of such registration shall be 
between 7 a. m. and 9 p. m. on the 5th day of June, 1917, 
at the registration place in the precinct wherein they have 
their permanent homes. 

Those who shall have attained their twenty-first birth- 
day and who shall not have attained their thirty-first 
birthday on or before the day here named are required 
to register, excepting only officers and enlisted men of 
the regular army, the navy, the marine corps, and the 
national guard and naval militia while in the service of 
the United States, and officers in the officers ' reserve corps 
and enlisted men in the enlisted reserve corps while in 
active service. 

33 



34 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

In the territories of Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico a 
day for registration will be named in a later proclamation. 

And I do charge those who, through sickness, shall be 
unable to present themselves for registration that they 
apply on or before the day of registration to the county 
clerk of the county where they may be for instructions as 
to how they may be registered by agent. 

Those who expect to be absent on the day named from 
the counties in which they have their permanent homes 
may register by mail, but their mailed registration cards 
must reach the places in which they have their perma- 
nent homes by the day named herein. They should apply 
as soon as practicable to the county clerk of the county 
wherein they may be for instructions as to how they may 
accomplish their registration by mail. 

In case such persons as, through sickness or absence, 
may be unable to present themselves personally for reg- 
istration shall be sojourning in cities of over 30,000 pop- 
ulation they shall apply to the city clerk of the city 
wherein they may be sojourning rather than to the clerk 
of the county. 

The clerks of counties and of cities of over 30,000 popu- 
lation in which numerous applications from the sick and 
from nonresidents are expected are authorized to estab- 
lish such sub-agencies and to employ and deputize such 
clerical force as may be necessary to accommodate these 
applications. 

The power against which we are arrayed has sought to 
impose its will upon the world by force. To this end it 
has increased armament until it has changed the face of 
war. In the sense in which we have been wont to think 
of armies there are no armies in this struggle. There are 
entire nations armed. Thus, the men who remain to till 



GREAT SPEECHES 35 

the soil and man the factories are no less a part of the 
army than the men beneath the battle flags. It must be 
so with us. It is not an army that we must shape and 
train for war ; it is a nation. 

To this end our people must draw close in one compact 
front against a common foe. But this cannot be if each 
man pursue a private purpose. All must pursue one pur- 
pose. The nation needs all men ; but it needs each man, 
not in the field that will most pleasure him, but in the 
endeavor that will best serve the common good. 

Thus, though a sharpshooter pleases to operate a trip- 
hammer for the forging of great guns, and an expert 
machinist desires to march with the flag, the nation is 
being served only when the sharpshooter marches and 
the machinist remains at his levers. The whole nation 
must be a team in which each man shall play the part for 
which he is best fitted. To this end congress has pro- 
vided that the nation shall be organized for war by selec- 
tion and that each man shall be classified for service in 
the place to which it shall best serve the general good to 
call him. 

The significance of this cannot be overstated. It is a 
new thing in our history and a landmark in our progress. 
It is a new manner of accepting and vitalizing our duty 
to give ourselves with thoughtful devotion to the common 
purpose of us all. It is in no sense a conscription of the 
unwilling ; it is rather selection from a nation which has 
volunteered in mass. It is no more a choosing of those 
who shall march with the colors than it is a selection of 
those who shall serve an equally necessary and devoted 
purpose in the industries that lie behind the battle line. 

The day here named is the time upon which all shall 
present themselves for assignment to their tasks. It is 
for that reason destined to be remembered as one of the 



36 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

most conspicuous moments in our history. It is nothing 
less than the day upon which the manhood of the country 
shall step forward in one solid rank in defense of the 
ideals to which this nation is consecrated. It is impor- 
tant to those, ideals no less than to the pride of this gen- 
eration in manifesting its devotion to them that there 
be no gaps in the ranks. 

It is essential that the day be approached in thoughtful 
apprehension of its significance and that we accord to it 
the honor and the meaning that it deserves. 

Our industrial need prescribes that it be not made a 
technical holiday, but the stern sacrifice that is before us 
urges that it be carried in all our hearts as a great day of 
patriotic devotion and obligation when the duty shall lie 
upon every man, whether he is himself to be registered or 
not, to see to it that the name of every male person of 
the designated ages is written on these lists of honor. 

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington this 18th day of May 
in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and 
seventeen and of the independence of the United States 
of America the one hundred and forty-first. 

Woodrow Wilson. 



DECLINES COL. ROOSEVELT'S OFFER 

When Congress authorized Mr. Wilson to accept Col. 
Roosevelt's offer to raise four divisions of volunteer 
troops for ' ' immediate service in Prance, ' ' the President 
declined to avail himself of the authority, and made 
the following statement, May 18, 1917: 



GBEAT SPEECHES 37 

I shall not avail myself, at any rate at the present stage 
of the war, of the authorization conferred by the act to 
organize volunteer divisions. To do so would seriously 
interfere with the carrying out of the chief and most 
immediately important-purpose contemplated by this leg- 
islation, the prompt creation and early use of an effective 
army, and would contribute practically nothing to the 
effective strength of the armies now engaged against 
Germany. 

I understand that the section of this act which author- 
izes the creation of volunteer divisions in addition to the 
draft was added with a view to providing an independent 
oommand for Mr. Roosevelt and giving the military au- 
thorities an opportunity to use his fine vigor and enthu- 
siasm in recruiting the forces now at the western front. 

It would be very agreeable to me to pay Mr. Roosevelt 
this compliment, and the allies the compliment of sending 
to their aid one of our most distinguished public men, an 
ex-president who has rendered many conspicuous public 
services and proved his gallantry in many striking ways. 
Politically, too, it would no doubt have a very fine effect 
and make a profound impression. But this is not the 
time or the occasion for compliment or for any action not 
calculated to contribute to the immediate success of the 
war. 

The business now in hand is undramatic, practical, and 
of scientific definiteness and precision. I shall act with 
regard to it at every step and in every particular under 
expert and professional advice, from both sides of the 
water. 

That advice is that the men most needed are men of 
the ages contemplated in the draft provisions of the pres- 
ent bill, not men of the age and sort contemplated in the 
section which authorizes the formation of volunteer units, 



38 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

and that for the preliminary training of the men who 
are to be drafted we shall need all of our experienced 
officers. 

Mr. Roosevelt .told me, when I had the pleasure of 
seeing him a few weeks ago, that he would wish to have 
associated with him some of the most effective officers of 
the regular army. He named many of those whom he 
would desire to have designated for the service, and they 
were men who cannot possibly be spared from the too 
small force of officers at our command for the much more 
pressing and necessary duty of training regular troops 
to be put into the field in France and Belgium as fast as 
they can be got ready. 

The first troops sent to France will be taken from the 
present forces of the regular army and will be under the 
command of trained soldiers only. 

The responsibility for the successful conduct of our 
own part in this great war rests upon me. I could not 
escape it if I would. I am too much interested in the 
cause we are fighting for to be interested in anything but 
success. The issues involved are too immense for me to 
take into consideration anything whatever except the 
best, most effective, most immediate means of military 
action. 

What these means are I know from the mouths of men 
who have seen war as it is now conducted, who have no 
illusions, and to whom the whole grim matter is a matter 
of business. I shall center my attention upon those 
means and let everything else wait. I should be deeply 
to blame should I do otherwise, whatever the argument 
of policy or of personal gratification or advantage. 



GEEAT SPEECHES 39 

STATEMENT ON THE FOOD LAW 

President Wilson's Explanation, May 19, 1917, of the 
Food-Control Program of the Administration 

It is very desirable, in order to prevent misunderstand- 
ings or alarms and to assure co-operation in a vital matter, 
that the country should understand exactly the scope and 
purpose of the very great powers which I have thought it 
necessary in the circumstances to ask the Congress to put 
in my hands with regard to our food supplies. 

Those powers are very great indeed, but they are no 
greater than it has proved necessary to lodge in the other 
governments which are conducting this momentous war, 
and their object is stimulation and conservation, not ar- 
bitrary restraint or injurious interference with the nor- 
mal processes of production. They are intended to 
benefit and assist the farmer and all those who play a 
legitimate part in the preparation, distribution and mar- 
keting of foodstuffs. 

It is proposed to draw a sharp line of distinction be- 
tween the normal activities of the government represented 
in the Department of Agriculture in reference to food 
production, conservation and marketing on the one hand 
and the emergency activities necessitated by the war in 
reference to the regulation of food distribution and con- 
sumption on the other. 

All measures intended directly to extend the normal 
activities of the Department of Agriculture, in reference 
to the production, conservation and the marketing of 
farm crops, will be administered, as in normal times, 
through that department, and the powers asked for over 
distribution and consumption, over exports, imports, 



40 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

prices, purchase and requisition of commodities, storing 
and the like which may require regulation during the 
war will be placed in the hands of a commissioner of food 
administration appointed by the President and directly 
responsible to him. 

The objects sought to be served by the legislation asked 
for are : Full inquiry into the existing available stocks 
of foodstuffs and into the costs and practices of the vari- 
ous food-producing and distributing trades ; the preven- 
tion of all unwarranted hoarding of every kind and of 
the control of the foodstuffs by persons who are not in 
any legitimate sense producers, dealers or traders; the 
requisitioning when necessary for the public use of food 
supplies and of the equipment necessary for handling 
them properly ; the licensing of wholesome and legitimate 
mixtures and milling percentages, and the prohibition of 
the unnecessary or wasteful use of foods. 

Authority is asked also to establish prices — but not in 
order to limit the profits of the farmers, but only to guar- 
antee to them when necessary a minimum price which will 
insure them a profit where they are asked to attempt new 
crops, and to secure the consumer against extortion by 
breaking up corners and attempts at speculation when 
they occur by fixing temporarily a reasonable price at 
which middlemen must sell. 

I have asked Mr. Herbert C. Hoover to undertake this 
all-important task of food administration. He has ex- 
pressed his willingness to do so on condition that he is to 
receive no payment for his services and that the whole of 
the force under him, exclusive of clerical assistance, shall 
be employed so far as possible upon the same volunteer 
basis. He has expressed his confidence that this difficult 



GEEAT SPEECHES 41 

matter of food administration can be successfully accom- 
plished through the voluntary co-operation and direction 
of legitimate distributors of foodstuffs and with the help 
of the women of the country. 

Although it is absolutely necessary that unquestion- 
able powers shall be placed in my hands in order to insure 
the success of this administration of the food supplies of 
the country, I am confident that the exercise of those 
powers will be necessary only in the few cases where some 
small and selfish minority proves unwilling to put the 
nation 's interests above personal advantage, and that the 
whole country will heartily support Mr. Hoover's efforts 
by supplying the necessary volunteer agencies through- 
out the country for the intelligent control of food con- 
sumption and securing the co-operation of the most capa- 
ble leaders of the very interests most directly affected, 
that the exercise of the powers deputed to him will rest 
very successfully upon the good-will and co-operation of 
the people themselves, and that the ordinary economic 
machinery of the country will be left substantially undis- 
turbed. 

The proposed food administration is intended, of 
course, only to meet a manifest emergency and to con- 
tinue only while the war lasts. Since it will be com- 
posed for the most part of volunteers there need be no 
fear of the possibility of a permanent bureaucracy arising 
out of it. All control of consumption will disappear 
when the emergency has passed. It is with that object 
in view that the administration considers it to be of pre- 
eminent importance that the existing associations of pro- 
ducers and distributors of foodstuffs should be mobilized 
and made use of on a volunteer basis. 

This successful conduct of the projected food adminis- 



42 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

tration by such means will be the finest possible demon- 
stration of the willingness, the ability and the efficiency 
of democracy, and of its justified reliance upon the free- 
dom of individual initiative. The last thing that any 
American could contemplate with equanimity would be 
the introduction of anything resembling Prussian autoc- 
racy into the food control of this country. 

It is of vital interest and importance to every man who 
produces food and to every man who takes part in its 
distribution that these policies thus liberally adminis- 
tered should succeed and succeed altogether. It is only 
in that way that we can prove it to be absolutely unnec- 
essary to resort to the rigorous and drastic measures 
which have proved to be necessary in some of the Euro- 
pean countries. 



GREAT SPEECHES 43 

AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 

Statement of the President, August 19, 1914, in the 
Early Days of the Great War 

My Fellow-Countrymen : 

I suppose that every thoughtful man in America has 
asked himself, during these last troubled weeks, what 
influence the European war may exert upon the United 
States, and I take the liberty of addressing a few words 
to you in order to point out that it is entirely within our 
own choice what its effects upon us will be and to urge 
very earnestly upon you the sort of speech and conduct 
which will best safeguard the Nation against distress 
and disaster. 

The effect of the war upon the United States will de- 
pend upon what American citizens say and do. Every 
man who really loves America will act and speak in the 
true spirit of neutrality, which is the spirit of impar- 
tiality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned. 
The spirit of the Nation in this critical matter will be 
determined largely by what individuals and society and 
those gathered in public meetings do and say, upon what 
newspapers and magazines contain, upon what ministers 
utter in their pulpits, and men proclaim as their opinions 
on the street. 

The people of the United States are drawn from many 
nations, and chiefly from the nations now at war. It is 
natural and inevitable that there should be the utmost 
variety of sympathy and desire among them with regard 
to the issues and circumstances of the conflict. Some 
will wish one nation, others another, to succeed in the 
momentous struggle. It will be easy to excite passion 
and difficult to allay it. Those responsible for exciting it 



44 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

will assume a heavy responsibility, responsibility for no 
less a thing than that the people of the United States, 
whose love of their Country and whose loyalty to its Gov- 
ernment should unite them as Americans all, bound in 
honor and affection to think first of her and her interests, 
may be divided in camps of hostile opinion, hot against 
each other, involved in the war itself in impulse and 
opinion if not in action. 

Such divisions among us would be fatal to our peace 
of mind and might seriously stand in the way of the 
proper performance of our duty as the one great nation 
at peace, the one people holding itself ready to play a 
part of impartial mediation and speak the counsels of 
peace and accommodation, not as a partisan, but as a 
friend. 

I venture, therefore, my fellow-countrymen, to speak 
a solemn word of warning to you against that deepest, 
most subtle, most essential breach of neutrality which 
may spring out of partisanship, out of passionately taking 
sides. The United States must be neutral in fact as well 
as in name during these days that are to try men 's souls. 
We must be impartial in thought as well as in action, 
must put a curb upon our sentiments as well as upon 
every transaction that might be construed as a preference 
of one party to the struggle before another. 

My thought is of America. I am speaking, I feel sure, 
the earnest wish and purpose of every thoughtful Amer- 
ican that this great country of ours, which is, of course, 
the first in our thoughts and in our hearts, should show 
herself in this time of peculiar trial a Nation fit beyond 
others to exhibit the fine poise of undisturbed judgment, 
the dignity of self-control, the efficiency of dispassionate 
action; a Nation that neither sits in judgment upon 



GREAT SPEECHES 45 

others nor is disturbed in her own counsels and which 
keeps herself fit and free to do what is honest and disin- 
terested and truly serviceable for the peace of the world. 
Shall we not resolve to put upon ourselves the restraints 
which will bring to our people the happiness and the great 
and lasting influence for peace we covet for them ? 



46 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

ADDRESS TO CONGRESS ON RAISING 
ADDITIONAL REVENUE 

September 4, 1914 

Gentlemen op the Congress: 

I come to you today to discharge a duty which I wish 
with all my heart I might have been spared; but it is a 
very clear duty, and therefore I perform it without hesi- 
tation or apology. I come to ask very earnestly that 
additional revenue be provided for the Government. 

During the month of August there was, as compared 
with the corresponding month of last year, a falling off 
of $10,629,538 in the revenues collected from customs. 
A continuation of this decrease in the same proportion 
throughout the current fiscal year would probably mean 
a loss of customs revenues of from sixty to one hundred 
millions. I need not tell you to what this falling off is 
due. It is due, in chief part, not to the reductions re- 
cently made in the customs duties, but to the great de- 
crease in importations ; and that is due to the extraordi- 
nary extent of the industrial area affected by the present 
war in Europe. Conditions have arisen which no man 
foresaw ; they affect the whole world of commerce and eco- 
nomic production ; and they must be faced and dealt with. 

It would be very unwise to postpone dealing with them. 
Delay in such a matter and in the particular circum- 
stances in which we now find ourselves as a nation might 
involve consequences of the most embarrassing and de- 
plorable sort, for which I, for one, would not care to be 
responsible. It would be very dangerous in the present 
circumstances to create a moment's doubt as to the 
strength and sufficiency of the Treasury of the United 
States, its ability to assist, to steady, and sustain the 



GREAT SPEECHES 47 

financial operations of the country's business. If the 
Treasury is known, or even thought, to be weak, where 
will be our peace of mind ? The whole industrial activity 
of the country would be chilled and demoralized. Just 
now the peculiarly difficult financial problems of the mo- 
ment are being. successfully dealt with, with great self- 
possession and good sense and very sound judgment ; but 
they are only in process of being worked out. If the 
process of solution is to be completed, no one must be 
given reason to doubt the solidity and adequacy of the 
Treasury of the Government which stands behind the 
whole method by which our difficulties are being met 
and handled. 

The Treasury itself could get along for a considerable 
period, no doubt, without immediate resort to new sources 
of taxation. But at what cost to the business of the com- 
munity? Approximately $75,000,000, a large part of 
the present Treasury balance, is now on deposit with 
national banks distributed throughout the country. It 
is deposited, of course, on call. I need not point out to 
you what the probable consequences of inconvenience and 
distress and confusion would be if the diminishing in- 
come of the Treasury should make it necessary rapidly to 
withdraw these deposits. And yet without additional 
revenue that plainly might become necessary, and the 
time when it became necessary could not be controlled 
or determined by the convenience of the business of the 
country. It would have to be determined by the opera- 
tions and necessities of the Treasury itself. Such risks 
are not necessary and ought not to be run. We can not 
too scrupulously or carefully safeguard a financial situ- 
ation which is at best, while war continues in Europe, dif- 
ficult and abnormal. Hesitation and delay are the worst 
forms of bad policy under such conditions. 



48 PBESIDENT WILSON'S 

And we ought not to borrow. "We ought to resort to 
taxation, however we may regret the necessity of putting 
additional temporary burdens on our people. To sell 
bonds would be to make a most untimely and unjustifiable 
demand on the money market; untimely, because this is 
manifestly not the time to withdraw working capital from 
other uses to pay the Government's bills; unjustifiable, 
because unnecessary. The country is able to pay any just 
and reasonable taxes without distress. And to every 
other form of borrowing, whether for long periods or for 
short, there is the same objection. These are not the cir- 
cumstances, this is at this particular moment and in this 
particular exigency not the market, to borrow large sums 
of money. What we are seeking is to ease and assist every 
financial transaction, not to add a single additional em- 
barrassment to the situation. The people of this country 
are both intelligent and profoundly patriotic. They are 
ready to meet the present conditions in the right way 
and to support the Government with generous self-denial. 
They know and understand, and will be intolerant only 
of those who dodge responsibility or are not frank with 
them. 

The occasion is not of our own making. We had no 
part in making it. But it is here. It affects us as di- 
rectly and palpably almost as if we were participants in 
the circumstances which gave rise to it. We must accept 
the inevitable with calm judgment and unruffled spirits, 
like men accustomed to deal with the unexpected, habitu- 
ated to take care of themselves, masters of their own 
affairs and their own fortunes. We shall pay the bill, 
though we did not deliberately incur it. 

In order to meet every demand upon the Treasury with- 
out delay or peradventure and in order to keep the Treas- 
ury strong, unquestionably strong, and strong throughout 



GREAT SPEECHES 49 

the present anxieties, I respectfully urge that an addi- 
tional revenue of $100,000,000 be raised through internal 
taxes devised in your wisdom to meet the emergency. 
The only suggestion I take the liberty of making is that 
such sources of revenue be chosen as will begin to yield 
at once and yield with a certain and constant flow. 

I can not close without expressing the confidence with 
which I approach a Congress, with regard to this or any 
other matter, which has shown so untiring a devotion to 
public duty, which has responded to the needs of the 
Nation throughout a long season despite inevitable fatigue 
and personal sacrifice, and so large a proportion of whose 
Members have devoted their whole time and energy to the 
business of the country. 



50 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

ANNUAL ADDRESS (MESSAGE) TO 
CONGRESS 

December 8, 1914 

Gentlemen of the Congress: 

The session upon which you are now entering will be 
the closing session of the Sixty-third Congress, a Con- 
gress, I venture to say, which will long be remembered 
for the great body of thoughtful and constructive work 
which it has done, in loyal response to the thought and 
needs of the country. I should like in this address to 
review the notable record and try to make adequate as- 
sessment of it ; but no doubt we stand too near the work 
that has been done and are ourselves too much part of 
it to play the part of historians toward it. 

Our program of legislation with regard to the regula- 
tion of business is now virtually complete. It has been 
put forth, as we intended, as a whole, and leaves no con- 
jecture as to what is to follow. The road at last lies 
clear and firm before business. It is a road which it can 
travel without fear or embarrassment. It is the road to 
ungrudged, unclouded success. In it every honest man, 
every man who believes that the public interest is part 
of his own interest, may walk with perfect confidence. 

Moreover, our thoughts are now more of the future 
than of the past. "While we have worked at our tasks of 
peace the circumstances of the whole age have been al- 
tered by war. What we have done for our own land and 
our own people we did with the best that was in us, 
whether of character or of intelligence, with sober enthu- 
siasm and a confidence in the principles upon which we 
were acting which sustained us at every step of the diffi- 
cult undertaking ; but it is done. It has passed from our 



GREAT SPEECHES 51 

hands. It is now an established part of the legislation 
of the country. Its usefulness, its effects will disclose 
themselves in experience. What chiefly strikes us now, 
as we look about us during these closing days of a year 
which will be forever memorable in the history of the 
world, is that we face new tasks, have been facing them 
these six months, must face them in the months to come 
— face them without partisan feeling, like men who have 
forgotten everything but a common duty and the fact 
that we are representatives of a great people whose 
thought is not of us but of what America owes to herself 
and to all mankind in such circumstances as these upon 
which we look amazed and anxious. 

War has interrupted the means of trade not only but 
elso the processes of production. In Europe it is destroy- 
ing men and resources wholesale and upon a scale unpre- 
cedented and appalling. There is reason to fear that the 
time is near, if it be not already at hand, when several 
of the countries of Europe will find it difficult to do for 
their people what they have hitherto been always easily 
able to do — many essential and fundamental things. At 
any rate, they will need our help and our manifold serv- 
ices as they have never needed them before; and we 
should be ready, more fit and ready than we have ever 
been. 

It is of equal consequence that the nations whom Eu- 
rope has usually supplied with innumerable articles of 
manufacture and commerce of which they are in constant 
need and without which their economic development halts 
and stands still, can now get only a small part of what 
they formerly imported and eagerly look to us to supply 
their all but empty markets. This is particularly true 
of our own neighbors, the States, great and small, of Cen- 
tral and South America. Their lines of trade have hith- 



52 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

erto run chiefly athwart the seas, not to our ports but to 
the ports of Great Britain and of the older continent of 
Europe. I do not stop to inquire why, or to make any 
comment on probable causes. What interests us just now 
is not the explanation but the fact, and our duty and 
opportunity in the presence of it. Here are markets 
which we must supply, and we must find the means of 
action. The United States, this great people for whom 
we speak and act, should be ready, as never before, to 
serve itself and to serve mankind; ready with its re- 
sources, its energies, its forces of production, and its 
means of distribution. 

It is a very practical matter, a matter of ways and 
means. We have the resources, but are we fully ready to 
use them? And, if we can make ready what we have, 
have we the means at hand to distribute it? We are 
not fully ready; neither have we the means of distribu- 
tion. We are willing, but we are not fully able. We 
have the wish to serve and to serve greatly, generously ; 
but we are not prepared as we should be. We are not 
ready to mobilize our resources at once. We are not 
prepared to use them immediately and at their best, with- 
out delay and without waste. 

To speak plainly, we have grossly erred in the way in 
which we have stunted and hindered the development of 
our merchant marine. And now, when we need ships, we 
have not got them. We have year after year debated, 
without end or conclusion, the best policy to pursue with, 
regard to the use of the ores and forests and water powers 
of our national domain in the rich States of the West, 
when we should have acted ; and they are still locked up. 
The key is still turned upon them, the door shut fast at 
which thousands of vigorous men, full of initiative, knock 



GEEAT SPEECHES 53 

clamorously for admittance. The water power of our 
navigable streams outside the national domain also, even 
in the eastern States, where we have worked and planned 
for generations, is still not used as it might be, because 
we will and we won 't ; because the laws we have made do 
not intelligently balance encouragement against restraint. 
We withhold by regulation. 

I have come to ask you to remedy and correct these 
mistakes and omissions, even at this short session of a 
Congress which would certainly seem to have done all 
the work that could reasonably be expected of it. The 
time and the circumstances are extraordinary, and so 
must our efforts be also. 

Fortunately, two great measures, finely conceived, the 
one to unlock, with proper safeguards, the resources of 
the national domain, the other to encourage the use of 
the navigable waters outside that domain for the genera- 
tion of power, have already passed the House of Repre- 
sentatives and are ready for immediate consideration and 
action by the Senate. With the deepest earnestness I 
urge their prompt passage. In them both we turn our 
backs upon hesitation and makeshift and formulate a 
genuine policy of use and conservation, in the best sense 
of those words. We owe the one measure not only to 
the people of that great western country for whose free 
and systematic development, as it seems to me, our legis- 
lation has done so little, but also to the people of the 
Nation as a whole; and we as clearly owe the other in 
fulfillment of our repeated promises that the water power 
of the country should in fact as well as in name be put 
at the disposal of great industries which can make eco- 
nomical and profitable use of it, the rights of the public 
being adequately guarded the while, and monopoly in 
the use prevented. To have begun such measures and 



54 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

not completed them would indeed mar the record of this 
great Congress very seriously. I hope and confidently 
believe that they will be completed. 

And there is another great piece of legislation which 
awaits and should receive the sanction of the Senate: I 
mean the bill which gives a larger measure of self-gov- 
ernment to the people of the Philippines. How better, 
in this time of anxious questioning and perplexed policy, 
could we show our confidence in the principles of lib- 
erty, as the source as well as the expression of life, how 
better could we demonstrate our own self-possession and 
steadfastness in the courses of justice and disinterested- 
ness than by thus going calmly forward to fulfill our 
promises to a dependent people, who will now look more 
anxiously than ever to see whether we have indeed the 
liberality, the unselfishness, the courage, the faith we have 
boasted and professed. I can not believe that the Senate 
will let this great measure of constructive justice await 
the action of another Congress. Its passage would 
nobly crown the record of these two years of memorable 
labor. 

But I think that you will agree with me that this does 
not complete the toll of our duty. How are we to carry 
our goods to the empty markets of which I have spoken 
if we have not the ships ? How are we to build up a great 
trade if we have not the certain and constant means of 
transportation upon which all profitable and useful com- 
merce depends ? And how are we to get the ships if we 
wait for the trade to develop without them ? To correct 
the many mistakes by which we have discouraged and all 
but destroyed the merchant marine of the country, to 
retrace the steps by which we have, it seems almost de- 
liberately, withdrawn our flag from the seas, except 



GKEAT SPEECHES 55 

where, here and there, a ship of war is bidden carry it 
or some wandering yacht displays it, would take a long 
time and involve many detailed items of legislation, and 
the trade which we ought immediately to handle would 
disappear or find other channels while we debated the 
items. 

The case is not unlike that wh'icK confronted us when 
our own continent was to be opened up to settlement and 
industry, and we needed long lines of railway, extended 
means of transportation prepared beforehand, if devel- 
opment was not to lag intolerably and wait interminably. 
We lavishly subsidized the building of transcontinental 
railroads. "We look back upon that with regret now, be- 
cause the subsidies led to many scandals of which we are 
ashamed ; but we know that the railroads had to be built, 
and if we had it to do over again we should of course 
build them, but in another way. Therefore I propose 
another way of providing the means of transportation, 
which must precede, not tardily follow, the development 
of our trade with our neighbor states of America. It may 
seem a reversal of the natural order of things, but it is 
true, that the routes of trade must be actually opened — 
by many ships and regular sailings and moderate charges 
— before streams of merchandise will flow freely and 
profitably through them. 

Hence the pending shipping bill, discussed at the last 
session but as yet passed by neither House. In my judg- 
ment such legislation is imperatively needed and can not 
wisely be postponed. The Government must open these 
gates of trade, and open them wide ; open them before it 
is altogether profitable to open them, or altogether rea- 
sonable to ask private capital to open them at a venture. 
It is not a question of the Government monopolizing the 
field. It should take action to make it certain that trans- 



56 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

portation at reasonable rates will be promptly provided, 
even where the carriage is not at first profitable ; and 
then, when the carriage has become sufficiently profitable 
to attract and engage private capital, and engage it in 
abundance, the Government ought to withdraw. I very 
earnestly hope that the Congress will be of this opinion, 
and that both Houses will adopt this exceedingly impor- 
tant bill. 

The great subject of rural credits still remains to be 
dealt with, and it is a matter of deep regret that the diffi- 
culties of the subject have seemed to render it impossible 
to complete a bill for passage at this session. But it can 
not be perfected yet, and therefore there are no other 
constructive measures the necessity for which I will at 
this time call your attention to ; but I would be negligent 
of a very manifest duty were I not to call the attention of 
the Senate to the fact that the proposed convention for 
safety at sea awaits its confirmation and that the limit 
fixed in the convention itself for its acceptance is the last 
day of the present month. The conference in which this 
convention originated was called by the United States; 
the representatives of the United States played a very 
influential part indeed in framing the provisions of the 
proposed convention; and those provisions are in them- 
selves for the most part admirable. It would hardly be 
consistent with the part we have played in the whole 
matter to let it drop and go by the board as if forgotten 
and neglected. It was ratified in May last by the German 
Government and in August by the Parliament of Great 
Britain. It marks a most hopeful and decided advance in 
international civilization. We should show our earnest 
good faith in a great matter by adding our own acceptance 
of it. 



GREAT SPEECHES 57 

There is another matter of which I must make special 
mention, if I am to discharge my conscience, lest it should 
escape your attention. It may seem a very small thing. 
It affects only a single item of appropriation. But many 
human lives and many great enterprises hang upon it. 
It is the matter of making adequate provision for the 
survey and charting of our coasts. It is immediately 
pressing and exigent in connection with the immense 
coast line of Alaska, a coast line greater than that of the 
United States themselves, though it is also very impor- 
tant indeed with regard to the older coasts of the conti- 
nent. We can not use our great Alaskan domain, ships 
will not ply thither, if those coasts and their many hidden 
dangers are not thoroughly surveyed and charted. The 
work is incomplete at almost every point. Ships and 
lives have been lost in threading what were supposed to 
be well-known main channels. We have not provided 
adequate vessels or adequate machinery for the survey 
and charting. We have used old vessels that were not 
big enough or strong enough and which were so nearly 
unseaworthy that our inspectors would not have allowed 
private owners to send them to sea. This is a matter 
which, as I have said, seems small, but is iu reality very 
great. Its importance has only to be looked into to be 
appreciated. 

Before I close may I say a few words upon two topics, 
much discussed out of doors, upon which it is highly im- 
portant that our judgments should be clear, definite, and 
steadfast ? 

One of these is economy in government expenditures. 
The duty of economy is not debatable. It is manifest 
and imperative. In the appropriations we pass we are 
spending the money of the great people whose servants 



58 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

we are — not our own. "We are trustees and responsible 
stewards in the spending. The only thing debatable and 
upon which we should be careful to make our thought 
and purpose clear is the kind of economy demanded of 
us. I assert with the greatest confidence that the people 
of the United States are not jealous of the amount their 
Government costs if they are sure that they get what 
they need and desire for the outlay, that the money is 
being spent for objects of which they approve, and that 
it is being applied with good business sense and manage- 
ment. 

Governments grow, piecemeal, both in their tasks and 
in the means by which those tasks are to be performed, 
and very few Governments are organized, I venture to 
say, as wise and experienced business men would organize 
them if they had a clean sheet of paper to write upon. 
Certainly the Government of the United States is not. 
I think that it is generally agreed that there should be 
a systematic reorganization and reassembling of its parts 
so as to secure greater efficiency and effect considerable 
savings in expense. But the amount of money saved in 
that way would, I believe, though no doubt considerable 
in itself, running, it may be, into the millions, be rela- 
tively small — small, I mean, in proportion to the total 
necessary outlays of the Government. It would be thor- 
oughly worth effecting, as every saving would, great or 
small. Our duty is not altered by the scale of the saving. 
But my point is that the people of the United States do 
not wish to curtail the activities of this Government ; they 
wish, rather, to enlarge them; and with every enlarge- 
ment, with the mere growth, indeed, of the country itself, 
there must come, of course, the inevitable increase of ex- 
pense. The sort of economy we ought to practice may be 
effected, and ought to be effected, by a careful study and 



GREAT SPEECHES 59 

assessment of the tasks to be performed ; and the money- 
spent ought to be made to yield the best possible returns 
in efficiency and achievement And, like good stewards, 
we should so account for every dollar of our appropria- 
tions as to make it perfectly evident what it was spent 
for and in what way it was spent. 

It is not expenditure but extravagance that we should 
fear being criticized for; not paying for the legitimate 
enterprises and undertakings of a great Government 
whose people command what it should do, but adding 
what will benefit only a few or pouring money out for 
what need not have been undertaken at all or might have 
been postponed or better and more economically con- 
ceived and carried out. The Nation is not niggardly ; it 
is very generous. It will chide us only if we forget for 
whom we pay money out and whose money it is we pay. 
These are large and general standards, but they are not 
very difficult of application to particular cases. 

The other topic I shall take leave to mention goes 
deeper into the principles of our national life and policy. 
It is the subject of national defense. 

It can not be discussed without first answering some 
very searching questions. It is said in some quarters 
that we are not prepared for war. What is meant by 
being prepared ? Is it meant that we are not ready upon 
brief notice to put a nation in the field, a nation of men 
trained to arms ? Of course we are not ready to do that ; 
and we shall never be in time of peace so long as we retain 
our present political principles and institutions. And 
what is it that it is suggested we should be prepared to do ? 
To defend ourselves against attack? We have always 
found means to do that, and shall find them whenever 
it is necessary without calling our people away from their 



60 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

necessary tasks to render compulsory military service in 
times of peace. 

Allow me to speak with great plainness and directness 
upon this great matter and to avow my convictions with 
deep earnestness. I have tried to know what America 
is, what her people think, what they are, what they most 
cherish and hold dear. I hope that some of their finer 
passions are in my own heart — some of the great concep- 
tions and desires which gave birth to this Government 
and which have made the voice of this people a voice of 
peace and hope and liberty among the peoples of the 
irorld, and that, speaking my own thoughts, I shall, at 
least in part, speak theirs also, however faintly and inade- 
quately, upon this vital matter. 

We are at peace with all the world. No one who speaks 
counsel based on fact or drawn from a just and candid 
interpretation of realities can say that there is reason to 
fear that from any quarter our independence or the in- 
tegrity of our territory is threatened. Dread of the 
power of any other nation we are incapable of. We are 
not jealous of rivalry in the fields of commerce or of any 
other peaceful achievement. We mean to live our own 
lives as we will; but we mean also to let live. We are, 
indeed, a true friend to all the nations of the world, be- 
cause we threaten none, covet the possessions of none, 
desire the overthrow of none. Our friendship can be 
accepted and is accepted without reservation, because it 
is offered in a spirit and for a purpose which no one need 
ever question or suspect. Therein lies our greatness. 
We are the champions of peace and of concord. And we 
should be very jealous of this distinction which we have 
sought to earn. Just now we should be particularly jeal- 
ous of it, because it is our dearest present hope that this 
character and reputation may presently, in God's provi- 



GREAT SPEECHES 61 

dence, bring us an opportunity such as has seldom been 
vouchsafed any nation, the opportunity to counsel and 
obtain peace in the world and reconciliation and a healing 
settlement of many a matter that has cooled and inter- 
rupted the friendship of nations. This is the time above 
all others when we should wish and resolve to keep our 
strength by self-possession, our influence by preserving 
our ancient principles of action. 

From the first we have had a clear and settled policy 
with regard to military establishments. We never have 
had, and while we retain our present principles and ideals 
we never shall have, a large standing army. If asked, 
Are you ready to defend yourselves ? we reply, Most as- 
suredly, to the utmost ; and yet we shall not turn America 
into a military camp. We will not ask our young men 
to spend the best years of their lives making soldiers of 
themselves. There is another sort of energy in us. It 
will know how to declare itself and make itself effective 
should occasion arise. And especially when half the 
world is on fire we shall be careful to make our moral 
insurance against the spread of the conflagration very 
definite and certain and adequate indeed. 

Let us remind ourselves, therefore, of the only thing 
we can do or will do. We must depend in every time of 
national peril, in the future as in the past, not upon a 
standing army, nor yet upon a reserve army, but upon 
a citizenry trained and accustomed to arms. It will be 
right enough, right American policy, based upon our 
accustomed principles and practices, to provide a system 
by which every citizen who will volunteer for the train- 
ing may be made familiar with the use of modern arms, 
the rudiments of drill and maneuver, and the mainte- 
nance and sanitation of camps. We should encourage 



62 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

such training and make it a means of discipline which 
our young men will learn to value. It is right that we 
should provide it not only, but that we should make it as 
attractive as possible, and so induce our young men to 
undergo it at such times as they can command a little 
freedom and can seek the physical development they 
need, for mere health's sake, if for nothing more. Every 
means by which such things can be stimulated is legiti- 
mate, and such a method smacks of true American ideas. 
It is right, too, that the National Guard of the States 
should be developed and strengthened by every means 
which is not inconsistent with our obligations to our own 
people or with the established policy of our Government. 
And this, also, not because the time or occasion specially 
calls for such measures, but because it should be our con- 
stant policy to make these provisions for our national 
peace and safety. 

More than this carries with it a reversal of the whole 
history and character of our polity. More than this, 
proposed at this time, permit me to say, would mean 
merely that we had lost our self-possession, that we had 
been thrown off our balance by a war with which we have 
nothing to do, whose causes can not touch us, whose very 
existence affords us opportunities of friendship and dis- 
interested service which should make us ashamed of any 
thought of hostility or fearful preparation for trouble. 
This is assuredly the opportunity for which a people and 
a government like ours were raised up, the opportunity 
not only to speak but actually to embody and exemplify 
the counsels of peace and amity and the lasting concord 
which is based on justice and fair and generous dealing. 

A powerful navy we have always regarded as our 
proper and natural means of defense ; and it has always 
been of defense that we have thought, never of aggres- 



GEEAT SPEECHES 63 

sion or of conquest. But who shall tell us now what sort 
of a navy to build? We shall take leave to be strong 
upon the seas, in the future as in the past ; and there will 
be no thought of offense or of provocation in that. Our 
ships are our natural bulwarks. "When will the experts 
tell us just what kind we should construct — and when 
will they be right for ten years together, if the relative 
efficiency of craft of different kinds and uses continues 
to change as we have seen it change under our very eyes 
in these last few months. 

But I turn away from the subject. It is not new. 
There is no new need to discuss it. We shall not alter 
our attitude toward it because some amongst us are 
nervous and excited. We shall easily and sensibly agree 
upon a policy of defense. The question has not changed 
its aspect because the times are not normal. Our policy 
will not be for an occasion. It will be conceived as a 
permanent and settled thing, which we will pursue at 
all seasons, without haste and after a fashion perfectly 
consistent with the peace of the world, and the abiding 
friendship of states, and the unhampered freedom of all 
with whom we deal. Let there be no misconception. The 
country has been misinformed. We have not been negli- 
gent of national defense. We are not unmindful of the 
great responsibility resting upon us. We shall learn and 
profit by the lesson of every experience and every new 
circumstance ; and what is needed will be adequately done. 

I close, as I began, by reminding you of the great tasks 
and duties of peace which challenge our best powers and 
invite us to build what will last, the tasks to which we can 
address ourselves now and at all times with free-hearted 
zest and with all the finest gifts of constructive wisdom 
we possess. To develop our life and our resources; to 
supply our own people, and the people of the world as 



64 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

their need arises from the abundant plenty of our fields 
and our marts of trade ; to enrich the commerce of our 
own States and of the world with the products of our 
mines, our farms, and our factories, with the creations of 
our thought and the fruits of our character — this is what 
will hold our attention and our enthusiasm steadily, now 
and in the years to come, as we strive to show in our life 
as a nation what liberty and the inspirations of an eman- 
cipated spirit may do for men and for societies, for indi- 
viduals, for states, and for mankind. 



ADDRESS AT FLAG-DAY EXERCISES 

of the Treasury Department, June 14, 1915 

Mr. Secretary, Friends and Fellow-Citizens: 

I know of nothing more difficult than to render an 
adequate tribute to the emblem of our nation. For those 
of us who have shared that nation's life and felt the beat 
of its pulse it must be considered a matter of impossibility 
to express the great things which that emblem embodies. 
I venture to say that a great many things are said about 
the flag which very few people stop to analyze. For me 
the flag does not express a mere body of vague sentiment. 
The flag of the United States has not been created by 
rhetorical sentences in declarations of independence and 
in bills of rights. It has been created by the experience 
of a great people, and nothing is written upon it that has 
not been written by their life. It is the embodiment, not 
of a sentiment, but of a history, and no man can rightly 
serve under that flag who has not caught some of the 
meaning of that history. 



GREAT SPEECHES 65 

Experience, ladies and gentlemen, is made by men and 
women. National experience is the product of those who 
do the living under that flag. It is their living that has 
created its significance. You do not create the meaning 
of a national life by any literary exposition of it, but by 
the actual daily endeavors of a great people to do the 
tasks of the day and live up to the ideals of honesty and 
righteousness and just conduct. And as we think of 
these things, our tribute is to those men who have created 
this experience. Many of them are known by name to all 
the world — statesmen, soldiers, merchants, masters of in- 
dustry, men of letters and of thought who have coined our 
hearts into action or into words. Of these men we feel 
that they have shown us the way. They have not been 
afraid to go before us. They have known that they were 
speaking the thoughts of a great people when they led 
that great people along the paths of achievement. There 
was not a single swashbuckler among them. They were 
men of sober, quiet thought, the more effective because 
there was no bluster in it. They were men who thought 
along the lines of duty, not along the lines of self-aggran- 
dizement. They were men, in short, who thought of 
the people whom they served and not of themselves. 

But while we think of these men and do honor to them 
as to those who have shown us the way, let us not forget 
that the real experience and life of a nation lies with the 
great multitude of unknown men. It lies with those men 
whose names are never in the headlines of newspapers, 
those men who know the heat and pain and desperate loss 
of hope that sometimes comes in the great struggle of 
daily life; not the men who stand on the side and com- 
ment, not the men who merely try to interpret the great 
struggle, but the men who are engaged in the struggle. 
They constitute the body of the nation. This flag is the 



66 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

essence of their daily endeavors. This flag does not ex- 
press any more than what they are and what they desire 
to be. 

As I think of the life of this great nation it seems to 
me that we sometimes look to the wrong places for its 
sources. "We look to the noisy places, where men are 
talking in the market place; we look to where men are 
expressing their individual opinions; we look to where 
partisans are expressing passion; instead of trying to 
attune our ears to that voiceless mass of men who merely 
go about their daily tasks, try to be honorable, try to 
serve the people they love, try to live worthy of the great 
communities to which they belong. These are the breath 
of the nation 's nostrils ; these are the sinews of its might. 

How can any man presume to interpret the emblem 
of the United States, the emblem of what we would fain 
be among the family of nations, and find it incumbent 
upon us to be in the daily round of routine duty ? This 
is Flag Day, but that only means that it is a day when 
we are to recall the things which we should do every day 
of our lives. There are no days of special patriotism. 
There are no days when we should be more patriotic than 
on other days. We celebrate the Fourth of July merely 
because the great enterprise of liberty was started on the 
fourth of July in America, but the great enterprise of 
liberty was not begun in America. It is illustrated by 
the blood of thousands of martyrs who lived and died 
before the great experiment on this side of the water. 
The Fourth of July merely marks the day when we con- 
secrated ourselves as a nation to this high thing which 
we pretend to serve. The benefit of a day like this is 
merely in turning away from the things that distract us, 
turning away from the things that touch us personally 
and absorb our interest in the hours of daily work. We 



GREAT SPEECHES 67 

remind ourselves of those things that are greater than 
we are, of those principles by which we believe our hearts 
to be elevated, of the more difficult things that we must 
undertake in these days of perplexity when a man 's judg- 
ment is safest only when it follows the line of principle. 

I am solemnized in the presence of such a day. I 
would not undertake to speak your thoughts. You must 
interpret them for me. But I do feel that back, not only 
of every public official, but of every man and woman of 
the United States, there marches that great host which has 
brought us to the present day ; the host that has never for- 
gotten the vision which it saw at the birth of the nation ; 
the host which always responds to the dictates of human- 
ity and of liberty; the host that will always constitute 
the strength and the great body of friends of every man 
who does his duty to the United States. 

I am sorry that you do not wear a little flag of the 
Union every day instead of some days. I can only ask 
you, if you lose the physical emblem, to be sure that you 
wear it in your heart, and the heart of America shall 
interpret the heart of the world. 



68 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT 

at G. A. R. Celebration, Camp Emery, Washington, 
September 28, 1915 

Mr. Chairman, Gentlemen of the Grand Army op the 

Republic, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

I bid you a very cordial welcome to the capital of the 
Nation, and yet I feel that it is not necessary to bid you 
welcome here, because you know that the welcome is 
always warm and always waiting for you. 

One could not stand in this presence without many 
moving thoughts. It is a singular thing that men of a 
single generation should have witnessed what you have 
witnessed in the crowded fifty years which you celebrate 
tonight. You took part when you were young men in a 
struggle the meaning of which, I dare say, you thought 
would not be revealed during your lifetime, and yet more 
has happened in the making of this Nation in your life- 
time than has ever happened in the making of any other 
nation in the lifetime of a dozen generations. 

The Nation in which you now live is not the Nation for 
whose union you fought. You have seen many things 
come about which have made this Nation one of the rep- 
resentative nations of the world with regard to the mod- 
ern spirit of that world, and you have the satisfaction, 
which I dare say few soldiers have ever had, of looking 
back upon a war absolutely unique in this, that instead of 
destroying it healed, that instead of making a permanent 
division it made a permanent union. You have seen 
something more interesting than that, because there is a 
sense in which the things of the heart are more interesting 
than the things of the mind. This Nation was from the 
beginning a spiritual enterprise, and you have seen the 



GREAT SPEECHES 69 

spirits of the two once divided sections of this country 
absolutely united. A war which seemed as if it had the 
seed of every kind of bitterness in it has seen a single 
generation put bitterness absolutely out of its heart, and 
you feel, as I am sure the men who fought against you 
feel, that you were comrades even then, though you did 
not know it, and that now you know that you are com- 
rades in a common love for a country which you are 
equally eager to serve. 

This is a miracle of the spirit, so far as national history 
is concerned- This is one of the very few wars in which 
in one sense everybody engaged may take pride. Some 
wars are to be regretted ; some wars mar the annals of 
history ; but some wars, contrasted with those, make those 
annals distinguished, show that the spirit of man some- 
times springs to great enterprises that are even greater 
than his own mind had conceived. 

So it seems to me that, standing in a presence like this, 
no man, whether he be in the public service or in the ranks 
of private citizens merely, can fail to feel the challenge 
to his own heart, can fail to feel the challenge to a new 
consecration to the things that we all believe in. The 
thing that sinks deepest in my heart as I try to realize the 
memories that must be crowding upon you is this : You 
set the Nation free for that great career of development, 
of unhampered development, which the world has wit- 
nessed since the Civil War, but for my own part I would 
not be proud of the extraordinary physical development 
of this country, of its extraordinary development in mate- 
rial wealth and financial power, did I not believe that 
the people of the United States wished all of this power 
devoted to ideal ends. There have been other nations as 
rich as we ; there have been other nations as powerful ; 
there have been other nations as spirited ; but I hope we 



70 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

shall never forget that we created this Nation, not to 
serve ourselves, but to serve mankind. 

I love this country because it is my home, but every man 
loves his home. It does not suffice that I should be at- 
tached to it because it contains the places and the persons 
whom I love — because it contains the threads of my own 
life. That does not suffice for patriotic duty. I should 
also love it, and I hope I do love it, as a great instrument 
for the uplift of mankind ; and what you, gentlemen, have 
to remind us of as you look back through a lifetime to 
the great war in which you took part is that you fought 
that this instrument meant for the service of mankind 
should not be impaired either in its material or in its 
spiritual power. 

I hope I may say without even an implication of criti- 
cism upon any other great people in the world that it has 
always seemed to me that the people of the United States 
wished to be regarded as devoted to the promotion of par- 
ticular principles of human right. The United States were 
founded, not to provide free homes, but to assert human 
rights. This flag meant a great enterprise of the human 
spirit. Nobody, no large bodies of men, in the time that 
flag was first set up believed with a very firm belief in 
the efficacy of democracy. Do you realize that only so 
long ago as the time of the American Revolution democ- 
racy was regarded as an experiment in the world and we 
were regarded as rash experimenters? But we not only 
believed in it ; we showed that our belief was well founded 
and that a nation as powerful as any in the world could 
be erected upon the will of the people ; that, indeed, there 
was a power in such a nation that dwelt in no other nation 
unless also in that other nation the spirit of the people 
prevailed. 

Democracy is the most difficult form of government, 



GREAT SPEECHES 71 

because it is the form under which you have to persuade 
the largest number of persons to do anything in particu- 
lar. But I think we were the more pleased to undertake 
it because it is difficult. Anybody can do what is easy. 
We have shown that we could do what was hard, and the 
pride that ought to dwell in your hearts tonight is that 
you saw to it that that experiment was brought to the day 
of its triumphant demonstration. We now know, and the 
world knows, that the thing that we then undertook, rash 
as it seemed, has been practicable, and that we have set 
up in the world a government maintained and promoted 
by the general conscience and the general conviction. 

So I stand here, not to welcome you to the Nation's 
capital as if I were your host, but merely to welcome you 
to your own capital, because I am, and am proud to be, 
your servant. I hope I shall catch, as I hope we shall all 
catch, from the spirit of this occasion a new consecration 
to the high duties of American citizenship. 



72 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

ADDRESS TO THE DAUGHTERS OF THE 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

Washington, October 11, 1915 

Madam President and Ladies and Gentlemen: 

Again it is my very great privilege to welcome you to 
the City of Washington and to the hospitalities of the 
Capital. May I admit a point of ignorance ? I was sur- 
prised to learn that this association is so young, and that 
an association so young should devote itself wholly to 
memory I can not believe. For to me the duties to which 
you are consecrated are more than the duties and the 
pride of memory. 

There is a very great thrill to be had from the memories 
of the American Revolution, but the American Revolution 
was a beginning, not a consummation, and the duty laid 
upon us by that beginning is the duty of bringing the 
things then begun to a noble triumph of completion. For 
it seems to me that the peculiarity of patriotism in Amer- 
ica is that it is not a mere sentiment. It is an active prin- 
ciple of conduct. It is something that was born into the 
world, not to please it but to regenerate it. It is some- 
thing that was born into the world to replace systems 
that had preceded it and to bring men out upon a new 
plane of privilege. The glory of the men whose memories 
you honor and perpetuate is that they saw this vision, 
and it was a vision of the future. It was a vision of great 
days to come when a little handful of three million people 
upon the borders of a single sea should have become a 
great multitude of free men and women spreading across 
a great continent, dominating the shores of two oceans, 
and sending West as well as East the influences of indi- 
vidual freedom. These things were consciously in their 
minds as they framed the great Government which was 



GEEAT SPEECHES 73 

born out of the American Revolution ; and every time we 
gather to perpetuate their memories it is incumbent upon 
us that we should be worthy of recalling them and that 
we should endeavor by every means in our power to 
emulate their example. 

The American Revolution was the birth of a nation; 
it was the creation of a great free republic based upon 
traditions of personal liberty which theretofore had been 
confined to a single little island, but which it was purposed 
should spread to all mankind. And the singular fascina- 
tion of American history is that it has been a process of 
constant re-creation, of making over again in each genera- 
tion the thing which was conceived at first. You know 
how peculiarly necessary that has been in our case, be- 
cause America has not grown by the mere multiplication 
of the original stock. It is easy to preserve tradition with 
continuity of blood ; it is easy in a single family to remem- 
ber the origins of the race and the purposes of its organi- 
zation ; but it is not so easy when that race is constantly 
being renewed and augmented from other sources, from 
stocks that did not carry or originate the same principles. 

So from generation to generation strangers have had 
to be indoctrinated with the principles of the American 
family, and the wonder and the beauty of it all has been 
that the infection has been so generously easy. For the 
principles of liberty are united with the principles of 
hope. Every individual, as well as every Nation, wishes 
to realize the best thing that is in him, the best thing that 
can be conceived out of the materials of which his spirit 
is constructed. It has happened in a way that fascinates 
the imagination that we have not only been augmented 
by additions from outside, but that we have been greatly 
stimulated by those additions. Living in the easy pros- 
perity of a free people, knowing that the sun had always 



74 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

been free to shine upon us and prosper our undertakings, 
we did not realize how hard the task of liberty is and how 
rare the privilege of liberty is ; but men were drawn out 
of every climate and out of every race because of an irre- 
sistible attraction of their spirits to the American ideal. 
They thought of America as lifting, like that great statue 
in the harbor of New York, a torch to light the pathway 
of men to the things that they desire, and men of all sorts 
and conditions struggled toward that light and came to 
our shores with an eager desire to realize it, and a hunger 
for it such as some of us no longer felt, for we were as if 
satiated and satisfied and were indulging ourselves after 
a fashion that did not belong to the ascetic devotion of 
the early devotees of those great principles. Strangers 
came to remind us of what we had promised ourselves and 
through ourselves had promised mankind. All men came 
to us and said, ' ' Where is the bread of life with which you 
promised to feed us, and have you partaken of it your- 
selves ? ' ' For my part, I believe that the constant renewal 
of this people out of foreign stocks has been a constant 
source of reminder to this people of what the inducement 
was that was offered to men who would come and be of our 
number. 

Now we have come to a time of special stress and test. 
There never was a time when we needed more clearly to 
conserve the principles of our own patriotism than this 
present time. The rest of the world from which our 
polities were drawn seems for the time in the crucible and 
no man can predict what will come out of that crucible. 
"We stand apart, unembroiled, conscious of our own prin- 
ciples, conscious of what we hope and purpose, so far as 
our powers permit, for the world at large, and it is nec- 
essary that we should consolidate the American principle. 



GREAT SPEECHES 75 

Every political action, every social action, should have for 
its object in America at this time to challenge the spirit 
of America ; to ask that every man and woman who thinks 
first of America should rally to the standards of our life. 
There have been some among us who have not thought 
first of America, who have thought to use the might of 
America in some matter not of America's origination. 
They have forgotten that the first duty of a nation is to 
express its own individual principles in the action of the 
family of nations and not to seek to aid and abet any rival 
or contrary ideal. 

Neutrality is a negative word. It is a word that does 
not express what America ought to feel. America has a 
heart and that heart throbs with all sorts of intense sym- 
pathies, but America has schooled its heart to love the 
things that America believes in, and it ought to devote 
itself only to the things that America believes in, and be- 
lieving that America stands apart in its ideals, it ought 
not to allow itself to be drawn, so far as its heart is con- 
cerned, into anybody's quarrel. Not because it does not 
understand the quarrel, not because it does not in its head 
assess the merits of the controversy, but because America 
has promised the world to stand apart and maintain cer- 
tain principles of action which are grounded in law and in 
justice. We are not trying to keep out of trouble ; we are 
trying to preserve the foundations upon which peace can 
be rebuilt. Peace can be rebuilt only upon the ancient and 
accepted principles of international law, only upon those 
things which remind nations of their duties to each other, 
and, deeper than that, of their duties to mankind and to 
humanity. 

America has a great cause which is not confined to the 
American continent. It is the cause of humanity itself. I 
do not mean in anything that I say even to imply a judg- 



76 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

ment upon any nation or upon any policy, for my object 
here this afternoon is not to sit in judgment upon any- 
body but ourselves and to challenge you to assist all of us 
who are trying to make America more than ever conscious 
of her own principles and her own duty. I look forward 
to the necessity in every political agitation in the years 
which are immediately at hand of calling upon every man 
to declare himself, where he stands. Is it America first 
or is it not ? 

We ought to be very careful about some of the impres- 
sions that we are forming just now. There is too general 
an impression, I fear, that very large numbers of our 
fellow-citizens born in other lands have not entertained 
with sufficient intensity and affection the American ideal. 
But the number of such is, I am sure, not large. Those 
who would seek to represent them are very vocal, but they 
are not very influential. Some of the best stuff of 
America has come out of foreign lands, and some of the 
best stuff in America is in the men who are naturalized 
citizens of the United States. I would not be afraid upon 
the test of "America first" to take a census of all the 
foreign-born citizens of the United States, for I know 
that the vast majority of them came here because they 
believed in America; and their belief in America has 
made them better citizens than some people who were born 
in America. They can say that they have bought this 
privilege with a great price. They have left their homes, 
they have left their kindred, they have broken all the 
nearest and dearest ties of human life in order to come to 
a new land, take a new rootage, begin a new life, and so 
by self-sacrifice express their confidence in a new prin- 
ciple ; whereas, it cost us none of these things. We were 
born into this privilege ; we were rocked and cradled in 
it; we did nothing to create it; and it is, therefore, the 



GREAT SPEECHES 77 

greater duty on our part to do a great deal to enhance it 
and preserve it. I am not deceived as to the balance of 
opinion among the foreign-born citizens of the United 
States, but I am in a hurry for an opportunity to have a 
line-up and let the men who are thinking first of other 
countries stand on one side and all those that are for 
America first, last, and all the time on the other side. 

Now, you can do a great deal in this direction. When 
I was a college officer I used to be very much opposed to 
hazing ; not because hazing is not wholesome, but because 
sophomores are poor judges. I remember a very dear 
friend of mine, a professor of ethics on the other side of 
the water, was asked if he thought it was ever justifiable 
to tell a lie. He said Yes, he thought it was sometimes 
justifiable to lie; "but," he said, "it is so difficult to 
judge of the justification that I usually tell the truth. " I 
think that ought to be the motto of the sophomore. There 
are freshmen who need to be hazed, but the need is to be 
judged by such nice tests that a sophomore is hardly old 
enough to determine them. But the world can determine 
them. We are not freshmen at college, but we are con- 
stantly hazed. I would a great deal rather be obliged to 
draw pepper up my nose than to observe the hostile 
glances of my neighbors. I would a great deal rather be 
beaten than ostracized. I would a great deal rather 
endure any sort of physical hardship if I might have the 
affection of my fellow-men. We constantly discipline our 
fellow-citizens by having an opinion about them. That 
is the sort of discipline we ought now to administer to 
everybody who is not to the very core of his heart an 
American. Just have an opinion about him and let him 
experience the atmospheric effects of that opinion ! And 
I know of no body of persons comparable to a body of 



78 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

ladies for creating an atmosphere of opinion ! I have 
myself in part yielded to the influences of that atmos- 
phere, though it took me a long time to determine how I 
was going to vote in New Jersey. 

So it has seemed to me that my privilege this afternoon 
was not merely a privilege of courtesy, but the real priv- 
ilege of reminding you — for I am sure I am doing nothing 
more — of the great principles which we stand associated 
to promote. I for my part rejoice that we belong to a 
country in which the whole business of government is so 
difficult. We do not take orders from anybody; it is a 
universal communication of conviction, the most subtle, 
delicate, and difficult of processes. There is not a single 
individual's opinion that is not of some consequence in 
making up the grand total, and to be in this great coopera- 
tive effort is the most stimulating thing in the world. A 
man standing alone may well misdoubt his own judgment. 
He may mistrust his own intellectual processes; he may 
even wonder if his own heart leads him right in matters of 
public conduct ; but if he finds his heart part of the great 
throb of a national life, there can be no doubt about it. 
If that is his happy circumstance, then he may know 
that he is part of one of the great forces of the world. 

I would not feel any exhilaration in belonging to 
America if I did not feel that she was something more 
than a rich and powerful nation. I should not feel proud 
to be in some respects and for a little while her spokes- 
man if I did not believe that there was something else 
than physical force behind her. I believe that the glory 
of America is that she is a great spiritual conception and 
that in the spirit of her institutions dwells not only her 
distinction but her power. The one thing that the world 
can not permanently resist is the moral force of great 
and triumphant convictions. 



GEEAT SPEECHES 79 

ANNUAL ADDRESS TO CONGRESS 

December 7, 1915 

[This Address Includes Mr. Wilson's Historic Kemarks on Dis- 
loyalty Within the Nation.] 

Gentlemen of the Congress: 

Since I last had the privilege of addressing you on 
the state of the Union the war of nations on the other 
side of the sea, which had then only begun to disclose 
its portentous proportions, has extended its threatening 
and sinister scope until it has swept within its flame some 
portion of every quarter of the globe, not excepting our 
own hemisphere, has altered the whole face of interna- 
tional affairs, and now presents a prospect of reorganiza- 
tion and reconstruction such as statesmen and peoples 
have never been called upon to attempt before. 

We have stood apart, studiously neutral. It was our 
manifest duty to do so. Not only did we have no part or 
interest in the policies which seem to have brought the 
conflict on; it was necessary, if a universal catastrophe 
was to be avoided, that a limit should be set to the sweep 
of destructive war and that some part of the great family 
of nations should keep the processes of peace alive, if only 
to prevent collective economic ruin and the breakdown 
throughout the world of the industries by which its pop- 
ulations are fed and sustained. It was manifestly the 
duty of the self-governed nations of this hemisphere to 
redress, if possible, the balance of economic loss and con- 
fusion in the other, if they could do nothing more. In 
the day of readjustment and recuperation we earnestly 
hope and believe that they can be of infinite service. 

In this neutrality, to which they were bidden not only 
by their separate life and their habitual detachment from 



80 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

the politics of Europe but also by a clear perception of 
international duty, the states of America have become 
conscious of a new and more vital community of interest 
and moral partnership in affairs, more clearly conscious 
of the many common sympathies and interests and duties 
which bid them stand together. 

There was a time in the early days of our own great 
nation and of the republics fighting their way to inde- 
pendence in Central and South America when the govern- 
ment of the United States looked upon itself as in some 
sort the guardian of the republics to the south of her as 
against any encroachments or efforts at political control 
from the other side of the water ; felt it its duty to play 
the part even without invitation from them ; and I think 
that we can claim that the task was undertaken with a true 
and disinterested enthusiasm for the freedom of the 
Americas and the unmolested self-government of her 
independent peoples. But it was always difficult to main- 
tain such a role without offence to the pride of the peoples 
whose freedom of action we sought to protect, and without 
provoking serious misconceptions of our motives, and 
every thoughtful man of affairs must welcome the altered 
circumstances of the new day in whose light we now stand, 
when there is no claim of guardianship or thought of 
wards but, instead, a full and honorable association as of 
partners between ourselves and our neighbors, in the 
interest of all America, north and south. Our concern for 
the independence and prosperity of the states of Central 
and South America is not altered. We retain unabated 
the spirit that has inspired us throughout the whole life 
of our government and which was so frankly put into 
words by President Monroe. "We still mean always to 
make a common cause of national independence and of 
political liberty in America. But that purpose is now 



GREAT SPEECHES 81 

better understood so far as it concerns ourselves. It is 
known not to be a selfish purpose. It is known to have 
in it no thought of taking advantage of any government 
in this hemisphere or playing its political fortunes for 
our own benefit. All the governments of America stand, 
so far as we are concerned, upon a footing of genuine 
equality and unquestioned independence. 

We have been put to the test in the case of Mexico, and 
we have stood the test. Whether we have benefited Mex- 
ico by the course we have pursued remains to be seen. 
Her fortunes are in her own hands. But we have at least 
proved that we will not take advantage of her in her dis- 
tress and undertake to impose upon her an order and gov- 
ernment of our own choosing. Liberty is often a fierce 
and intractable thing, to which no bounds can be set, and 
to which no bounds of a few men's choosing ought ever 
to be set. Every American who has drunk at the true 
fountains of principle and tradition must subscribe with- 
out reservation to the high doctrine of the Virginia Bill of 
Rights, which in the great days in which our government 
was set up was everywhere amongst us accepted as the 
creed of free men. That doctrine is, ' ' That government 
is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, pro- 
tection, and security of the people, nation, or commu- 
nity ; ' ' that ' ' of all the various modes and forms of gov- 
ernment, that is the best which is capable of producing 
the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most 
effectually secured against the danger of maladministra- 
tion ; and that, when any government shall be found in- 
adequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the 
•ommunity hath an indubitable, inalienable, and inde- 
feasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such man- 
ner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal. ' ' 



82 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

We have unhesitatingly applied that heroic principle to 
the case of Mexico, and now hopefully await the rebirth 
of the troubled Kepublic, which had so much of which to 
purge itself and so little sympathy from any outside 
quarter in the radical but necessary process. We will 
aid and befriend Mexico, but we vail not coerce her ; and 
our course with regard to her ought to be sufficient proof 
to all America that we seek no political suzerainty or 
selfish control. 

The moral is, that the states of America are not hostile 
rivals but cooperating friends, and that their growing 
sense of community of interest, alike in matters political 
and in matters economic, is likely to give them a new sig- 
nificance as factors in international affairs and in the 
political history of the world. It presents them as in a 
very deep and true sense a unit in world affairs, spiritual 
partners, standing together because thinking together, 
quick with common sympathies and common ideals. Sep- 
arated they are subject to all the cross currents of the 
confused politics of a world of hostile rivalries; united 
in spirit and purpose they cannot be disappointed of their 
peaceful destiny. 

This is Pan- Americanism. It has none of the spirit 
of empire in it. It is the embodiment, the effectual em- 
bodiment, of the spirit of law and independence and 
liberty and mutual service. 

A very notable body of men recently met in the City 
of Washington, at the invitation and as the guests of this 
Government, whose deliberations are likely to be looked 
back to as marking a memorable turning point in the his- 
tory of America. They were representative spokesmen 
of the several independent states of this hemisphere and 
were assembled to discuss the financial and commercial 



GEEAT SPEECHES 83 

relations of the republics of the two continents which 
nature and political fortune have so intimately linked 
together. I earnestly recommend to your perusal the 
reports of their proceedings and of the actions of their 
committees. You will get from them, I think, a fresh con- 
ception of the ease and intelligence and advantage with 
which Americans of both continents may draw together in 
practical cooperation and of what the material founda- 
tions of this hopeful partnership of interest must consist, 
— of how we should build them and of how necessary it 
is that we should hasten their building. 

There is, I venture to point out, an especial significance 
just now attaching to this whole matter of drawing the 
Americas together in bonds of honorable partnership 
and mutual advantage because of the economic readjust- 
ments which the world must inevitably witness within the 
next generation, when peace shall have at last resumed 
its healthful tasks. In the performance of these tasks 
I believe the Americas to be destined to play their parts 
together. I am interested to fix your attention on this 
prospect now because unless you take it within your view 
and permit the full significance of it to command your 
thought I cannot find the right light in which to set forth 
the particular matter that lies at the very front of my 
whole thought as I address you today. I mean national 
defense. 

No one who really comprehends the spirit of the great 
people for whom we are appointed to speak can fail to 
perceive that their passion is for peace, their genius best 
displayed in the practice of the arts of peace. Great 
demoeracies are not belligerent. They do not seek or 
desire war. Their thought is of individual liberty and of 
the free labor that supports life and the uncensored 



84 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

thought that quickens it. Conquest and dominion are not 
in our reckoning, or agreeable to our principles. But just 
because we demand unmolested development and the 
undisturbed government of our own lives upon our own 
principles of right and liberty, we resent, from whatever 
quarter it may come, the aggression we ourselves will not 
practice. "We insist upon security in prosecuting our self- 
chosen lines of national development. "We do more than 
that. We demand it also for others. "We do not confine 
our enthusiasm for individual liberty and free national 
development to the incidents and movements of affairs 
which affect only ourselves. We feel it wherever there 
is a people that tries to walk in these difficult paths of 
independence and right. From the first we have made 
common cause with all partisans of liberty on this side the 
sea, and have deemed it as important that our neighbors 
should be free from all outside domination as that we our- 
selves should be, have set America aside as a whole for the 
uses of independent nations and political freemen. 

Out of such thoughts grow all our policies. We regard 
war merely as a means of asserting the rights of a people 
against aggression. And we are as fiercely jealous of 
coercive or dictatorial power within our own nation as of 
aggression from without. We will not maintain a stand- 
ing army except for uses which are as necessary in times 
of peace as in times of war ; and we shall always see to it 
that our military peace establishment is no larger than is 
actually and continuously needed for the uses of days in 
which no enemies move against us. But we do believe in a 
body of free citizens ready and sufficient to take care of 
themselves and of the governments which they have set 
up to serve them. In our constitutions themselves we 
have commanded that "the right of the people to keep 
and bear arms shall not be infringed, ' ' and our confidence 



GREAT SPEECHES 85 

has been that our safety in times of danger would lie in 
the rising of the nation to take care of itself, as the 
farmers rose at Lexington. 

But war has never been a mere matter of men and guns. 
It is a thing of disciplined might. If our citizens are ever 
to fight effectively upon a sudden summons, they must 
know how modern fighting is done, and what to do when 
the summons comes to render themselves immediately 
available and immediately effective. And the govern- 
ment must be their servant in this matter, must supply 
them with the training they need to take care of them- 
selves and of it. The military arm of their government, 
which they will not allow to direct them, they may prop- 
erly use to serve them and make their independence se- 
cure, — and not their own independence merely but the 
rights also of those with whom they have made common 
cause, should they also be put in jeopardy. They must be 
fitted to play the great role in the world, and particularly 
in this hemisphere, which they are qualified by principle 
and by chastened ambition to play. 

It is with these ideals in mind that the plans of the 
Department of War for more adequate national defense 
were conceived which will be laid before you, and which 
I urge you to sanction and put into effect as soon as they 
can be properly scrutinized and discussed. They seem 
to me the essential first steps, and they seem to me for the 
present sufficient. 

They contemplate an increase of the standing force of 
the regular army from its present strength of five thou- 
sand and twenty-three officers and one hundred and two 
thousand nine hundred and eighty-five enlisted men of 
all services to a strength of seven thousand one hundred 
and thirty-six officers and one hundred and thirty-four 



86 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

thousand seven hundred and seven enlisted men, or 141,- 
843, all told, all services, rank and file, by the addition of 
fifty-two companies of coast artillery, fifteen companies 
of engineers, ten regiments of infantry, four regiments 
of field artillery, and four aero squadrons, besides seven 
hundred and fifty officers required for a great variety of 
extra service, especially the all important duty of training 
the citizen force of which I shall presently speak, seven 
hundred and ninety-two noncommissioned officers for 
service in drill, recruiting and the like, and the necessary 
quota of enlisted men for the Quartermaster Corps, the 
Hospital Corps, the Ordnance Department, and other 
similar auxiliary services. These are the additions neces- 
sary to render the army adequate for its present duties, 
duties which it has to perform not only upon our own con- 
tinental coasts and borders and at our interior army posts, 
but also in the Philippines, in the Hawaiian Islands, at 
the Isthmus, and in Porto Rico. 

By way of making the country ready to assert some 
part of its real power promptly and upon a larger scale, 
should occasion arise, the plan also contemplates supple- 
menting the army by a force of four hundred thousand 
disciplined citizens, raised in increments of one hundred 
and thirty-three thousand a year throughout a period of 
three years. This it is proposed to do by a process of 
enlistment under which the serviceable men of the coun- 
try would be asked to bind themselves to serve with the 
colors for purposes of training for short periods through- 
out three years, and to come to the colors at call at any 
time throughout an additional ' ' furlough ' ' period of three 
years. This force of four hundred thousand men would 
be provided with personal accoutrements as fast as en- 
listed and their equipment for the field made ready to be 
supplied at any time. They would be assembled for 



GREAT SPEECHES 87 

training at stated intervals at convenient places in asso- 
ciation with suitable units of the regular army. Their 
period of annual training would not necessarily exceed 
two months in the year. 

It would depend upon the patriotic feeling of the 
younger men of the country whether they responded to 
such a call to service or not. It would depend upon the 
patriotic spirit of the employers of the country whether 
they made it possible for the younger men in their employ 
to respond under favorable conditions or not. I, for one, 
do not doubt the patriotic devotion either of our young 
men or of those who give them employment, — those for 
whose benefit and protection they would in fact enlist. 
I would look forward to the success of such an experiment 
with entire confidence. 

At least so much by way of preparation for defense 
seems to me to be absolutely imperative now. We cannot 
do less. 

The programme which will be laid before you by the 
Secretary of the Navy is similarily conceived. It involves 
only a shortening of the time within which plans long 
matured shall be carried out; but it does make definite 
and explicit a programme which has heretofore been only 
implicit, held in the minds of the Committees on Naval 
Affairs and disclosed in the debates of the two Houses but 
nowhere formulated or formally adopted. It seems to 
me very clear that it will be to the advantage of the coun- 
try for the Congress to adopt a comprehensive plan for 
putting the navy upon a final footing of strength and 
efficiency and to press that plan to completion within the 
next five years. "We have always looked to the navy of 
the country as our first and chief line of defense; we 
have always seen it to be our manifest course of prudence 



88 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

to be strong on the seas. Year by year we have been 
creating a navy which now ranks very high indeed among 
the navies of the maritime nations. We should now defi- 
nitely determine how we shall complete what we have 
begun, and how soon. 

The programme to be laid before you contemplates the 
construction within five years of ten battleships, six battle 
cruisers, ten scout cruisers, fifty destroyers, fifteen fleet 
submarines, eighty-five coast submarines, four gunboats, 
one hospital ship, two ammunition ships, two fuel oil 
ships, and one repair ship. It is proposed that of this 
number we shall the first year provide for the construc- 
tion of two battle ships, two battle cruisers, three scout 
cruisers, fifteen destroyers, five fleet submarines, twenty- 
five coast submarines, two gunboats, and one hospital 
ship ; the second year, two battleships, one scout cruiser, 
ten destroyers, four fleet submarines, fifteen coast sub- 
marines, one gunboat, and one fuel oil ship; the third 
year, two battle ships, one battle cruiser, two scout cruis- 
ers, five destroyers, two fleet submarines, and fifteen 
coast submarines; the fourth year, two battle ships, two 
battle cruisers, two scout cruisers, ten destroyers, two fleet 
submarines, fifteen coast submarines, one ammunition 
ship, and one fuel oil ship ; and the fifth year, two battle 
ships, one battle cruiser, two scout cruisers, ten de- 
stroyers, two fleet submarines, fifteen coast submarines, 
one gunboat, one ammunition ship, and one repair ship. 

The Secretary of the Navy is asking also for the im- 
mediate addition to the personnel of the navy of seven 
thousand five hundred sailors, twenty-five hundred ap- 
prentice seamen, and fifteen hundred marines. This in- 
crease would be sufficient to care for the ships which are 
to be completed within the fiscal year 1917 and also for 
the number of men which must be put in training to man 



GREAT SPEECHES 89 

the ships which will be completed early in 1918. It is 
also necessary that the number of midshipmen at the 
Naval Academy at Annapolis should be increased by at 
least three hundred in order that the force of officers 
should be more rapidly added to ; and authority is asked 
to appoint, for engineering duties only, approved grad- 
uates of engineering colleges, and for service in the 
aviation corps a certain number of men taken from 
civil life. 

If this full programme should be carried out we should 
have built or building in 1921, according to the estimates 
of survival and standards of classification followed by 
the General Board of the Department, an effective navy 
consisting of twenty-seven battleships, of the first line, six 
battle cruisers, twenty-five battleships of the second line, 
ten armored cruisers, thirteen scout cruisers, five first 
class cruisers, three second class cruisers, ten third class 
cruisers, one hundred and eight destroyers, eighteen fleet 
submarines, one hundred and fifty-seven coast subma- 
rines, six monitors, twenty gunboats, four supply ships, 
fifteen fuel ships, four transports, three tenders to tor- 
pedo vessels, eight vessels of special types, and two ammu- 
nition ships. This would be a navy fitted to our needs 
and worthy of our traditions. 

But armies and instruments of war are only part of 
what has to be considered if we are to provide for the 
supreme matter of national self-sufficiency and security 
in all its aspects. There are other great matters which 
will be thrust upon our attention whether we will or not. 
There is, for example, a very pressing question of trade 
and shipping involved in this great problem of national 
adequacy. It is necessary for many weighty reasons of 
national efficiency and development that we should have 



90 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

a great merchant marine. The great merchant fleet we 
once used to make us rich, that great body of sturdy 
sailors who used to carry our flag into every sea, and who 
were the pride and often the bulwark of the nation, we 
have almost driven out of existence by inexcusable neg- 
lect and indifference and by a hopelessly blind and pro- 
vincial policy of so-called economic protection. It is high 
time we repaired our mistake and resumed our commer- 
cial independence on the seas. 

For it is a question of independence. If other nations 
go to war or seek to hamper each other's commerce, our 
merchants, it seems, are at their mercy, to do with as they 
please. "We must use their ships, and use them as they 
determine. We have not ships enough of our own. "We 
cannot handle our own commerce on the seas. Our inde- 
pendence is provincial, and is only on land and within our 
own borders. We are not likely to be permitted to use 
even the ships of other nations in rivalry of their own 
trade, and are without means to extend our commerce 
even where the doors are wide open and our goods desired. 
Such a situation is not to be endured. It is of capital 
importance not only that the United States should be its 
own carrier on the seas and enjoy the economic inde- 
pendence which only an adequate merchant marine would 
give it, but also that the American hemisphere as a whole 
should enjoy a like independence and self-sufficiency, if 
it is not to be drawn into the tangle of European affairs. 
Without such independence the whole question of our 
political unity and self-determination is very seriously 
clouded and complicated indeed. 

Moreover, we can develop no true or effective American 
policy without ships of our own — not ships of war, but 
ships of peace, carrying goods and carrying much more : 
creating friendships and rendering indispensable serv- 



GKEAT SPEECHES 91 

ices to all interests on this side the water. They must 
move constantly back and forth between the Americas. 
They are the only shuttles that can weave the delicate 
fabric of sympathy, comprehension, confidence, and mu- 
tual dependence in which we wish to clothe our policy of 
America for Americans. 

The task of building up an adequate merchant marine 
for America, private capital must ultimately undertake 
and achieve, as it has undertaken and achieved every 
other like task amongst us in the past, with admirable 
enterprise, intelligence, and vigor; and it seems to me 
a manifest dictate of wisdom that we should promptly 
remove every legal obstacle that may stand in the way 
of this much to be desired revival of our old independ- 
ence and should facilitate in every possible way the build- 
ing, purchase, and American registration of ships. But 
capital cannot accomplish this great task of a sudden. 
It must embark upon it by degrees, as the opportunities 
of trade develop. Something must be done at once ; done 
to open routes and develop opportunities where they are 
as yet undeveloped; done to open the arteries of trade 
where the currents have not yet learned to run — espe- 
cially between the two American continents, where they 
are, singularly enough, yet to be created and quickened ; 
and it is evident that only the government can under- 
take such beginnings and assume the initial financial 
risks. When the risk has passed and private capital 
begins to find its way in sufficient abundance into these 
new channels, the government may withdraw. But it 
cannot omit to begin. It should take the first steps, and 
should take them at once. Our goods must not lie piled 
up at our ports and stored upon side tracks in freight 
cars which are daily needed on the roads; must not be 
left without means o* transport to any foreign quarter. 



92 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

We must not await the permission of foreign sLip-owners 
and foreign governments to send them where we will. 

"With a view to meeting these pressing necessities of 
our commerce and availing ourselves at the earliest pos- 
sible moment of the present unparalleled opportunity of 
linking the two Americas together in bonds of mutual 
interest and service, an opportunity which may never 
return again if we miss it now, proposals will be made to 
the present Congress for the purchase or construction of 
ships to be owned and directed by the government similar 
to those made to the last Congress, but modified in some 
essential particulars. I recommend these proposals to 
you for your prompt acceptance with the more confi- 
dence because every month that has elapsed since the 
former proposals were made has made the necessity for 
such action more and more manifestly imperative. That 
need was then foreseen ; it is now acutely felt and every- 
where realized by those for whom trade is waiting but who 
can find no conveyance for their goods. I am not so 
much interested in the particulars of the programme as 
I am in taking immediate advantage of the great oppor- 
tunity which awaits us if we will but act in this emer- 
gency. In this matter, as in all others, a spirit of common 
counsel should prevail, and out of it should come an early 
solution of this pressing problem. 

There is another matter which seems to me to be very 
intimately associated with the question of national safety 
and preparation for defense. That is our policy towards 
the Philippines and the people of Porto Rico. Our treat- 
ment of them and their attitude towards us are manifestly 
of the first consequence in the development of our duties 
in the world and in getting a free hand to perform those 
duties. We must be free from every unnecessary burden 



GREAT SPEECHES 93 

or embarrassment ; and there is no better way to be clear 
of embarrassment than to fulfil our promises and promote 
the interests of those dependent on us to the utmost. 
Bills for the alteration and reform of the government of 
the Philippines and for rendering fuller political justice 
to the people of Porto Rico were submitted to the sixty- 
third Congress. They will be submitted also to you. I 
need not particularize their details. You are most of you 
already familiar with them. But I do recommend them 
to your early adoption with the sincere conviction that 
there are few measures you could adopt which would more 
serviceably clear the way for the great policies by which 
we wish to make good, now and always, our right to lead 
in enterprises of peace and good will and economic and 
political freedom. 



I have spoken to you to-day, Gentlemen, upon a single 
theme, the thorough preparation of the nation to care 
for its own security and to make sure of entire freedom 
to play the impartial role in this hemisphere and in the 
world which we all believe to have been providentially 
assigned to it. I have had in my mind no thought of 
any immediate or particular danger arising out of our 
relations with other nations. We are at peace with 
all the nations of the world, and there is reason to hope 
that no question in controversy between this and other 
Governments will lead to any serious breach of amicable 
relations, grave as some differences of attitude and 
policy have been and may yet turn out to be. I am 
sorry to say that the greatest threats against our na- 
tional peace and safety have been uttered within our 
own borders. There are citizens of the United States, 
I blush to admit, born under other flags but welcomed 



94 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

under our generous naturalization laws to the full free- 
dom and opportunity of America, who have poured the 
poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national 
life ; who have sought to bring the authority and good 
name of our Government into contempt, to destroy our 
industries wherever they thought it effective for their 
vindictive purposes to strike at them, and to debase 
our politics to the uses of foreign intrigue. Their num- 
ber is not great as compared with the whole number 
of those sturdy hosts by which our nation has been 
enriched in recent generations out of virile foreign 
stocks ; but it is great enough to have brought deep dis- 
grace upon us and to have made it necessary that we 
should promptly make use of processes of law by 
which we may be purged of their corrupt distempers. 
America never witnessed anything like this before. 
It never dreamed it possible that men sworn into its 
own citizenship, men drawn out of great free stocks 
such as supplied some of the best and strongest ele- 
ments of that little, but how heroic, nation that in a high 
day of old staked its very life to free itself from every 
entanglement that had darkened the fortunes of the 
older nations and set up a new standard here, — that 
men of such origins and such free choices of allegiance 
would ever turn in malign reaction against the Govern- 
ment and people who have welcomed and nurtured them 
and seek to make this proud country once more a hot- 
bed of European passion. A little while ago such a 
thing would have seemed incredible. Because it was 
incredible we made no preparation for it. We would 
have been almost ashamed to prepare for it, as if we 
were suspicious of ourselves, our own comrades and 
neighbors! But the ugly and incredible thing has act- 
ually come about and we are without adequate federal 



GREAT SPEECHES 95 

laws to deal with it. I urge you to enact such laws at 
the earliest possible moment and feel that in doing so 
I am urging you to do nothing less than save the honor 
and self-respect of the nation. Such creatures of pas- 
sion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed out. They 
are not many, but they are infinitely malignant, and the 
hand of our power should close over them at once. 
They have formed plots to destroy property, they have 
entered into conspiracies against the neutrality of the 
Government, they have sought to pry into every con- 
fidential transaction of the Government in order to 
serve interests alien to our own. It is possible to deal 
with these things very effectually. I need not suggest 
the terms in which they may be dealt with. 

I wish that it could be said that only a few men, 
misled by mistaken sentiments of allegiance to the gov- 
ernments under which they were born, had been guilty 
of disturbing the self-possession and misrepresenting 
the temper and principles of the country during these 
days of terrible war, when it would seem that every 
man who was truly an American would instinctively 
make it his duty and his pride to keep the scales of 
judgment even and prove himself a partisan of no na- 
tion but his own. But it cannot. There are some men 
among us, and many resident abroad who, though born 
and bred in the United States and calling themselves 
Americans, have so forgotten themselves and their 
honor as citizens as to put their passionate sympathy 
with one or the other side in the great European conflict 
above their regard for the peace and dignity of the 
United States. They also preach and practice disloy- 
alty. No laws, I suppose, can reach corruptions of the 
mind and heart ; but I should not speak of others with- 
out also speaking of these and expressing the even 



96 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

deeper humiliation and scorn which every self-possessed 
and thoughtfully patriotic American must feel when he 
thinks of them and of the discredit they are daily bring- 
ing upon us. 

While we speak of the preparation of the nation to 
make sure of her security and her effective power we 
must not fall into the patent error of supposing that 
her real strength comes from armaments and mere 
safeguards of written law. It comes, of course, from 
her people, their energy, their success in their under- 
takings, their free opportunity to use the natural re- 
sources of our great home land and of the lands outside 
our continental borders which look to us for protection, 
for encouragement, and for assistance in their develop- 
ment ; from the organization and freedom and vitality of 
our economic life. The domestic questions which en- 
gaged the attention of the last Congress are more vital 
to the nation in this its time of test than at any other 
time. We cannot adequately make ready for any trial 
of our strength unless we wisely and promptly direct 
the force of our laws into these all-important fields of 
domestic action. A matter which it seems to me we 
should have very much at heart is the creation of the 
right instrumentalities by which to mobilize our eco- 
nomic resources in any time of national necessity. I 
take it for granted that I do not need your authority 
to call into systematic consultation with the directing 
officers of the army and navy men of recognized leader- 
ship and ability from among our citizens who are thor- 
oughly familiar, for example, with the transportation 
facilities of the country and therefore competent to 
advise how they may be coordinated when the need 
arises, those who can suggest the best way in which 



GREAT SPEECHES 97 

to bring about prompt cooperation among the manufac- 
. turers of the country, should it be necessary, and those 
who could assist to bring the technical skill of the coun- 
try to the aid of the Government in the solution of par- 
ticular problems of defense. I only hope that if I should 
find it feasible to constitute such an advisory body the 
Congress would be willing to vote the small sum of 
money that would be needed to defray the expenses that 
would probably be necessary to give it the clerical and 
administrative machinery with which to do serviceable 
work. 

"What is more important is, that the industries and 
resources of the country should be available and ready 
for mobilization. It is the more imperatively neces- 
sary, therefore, that we should promptly devise means 
for doing what we have not yet done : that we should 
give intelligent federal aid and stimulation to indus- 
trial and vocational education, as we have long done 
in the large field of our agricultural industry ; that, at 
the same time that we safeguard and conserve the 
natural resources of the country we should put them at 
the disposal of those who will use them promptly and 
intelligently, as was sought to be done in the admirable 
bills submitted to the last Congress from its commit- 
tees on the public lands, bills which I earnestly recom- 
mend in principle to your consideration ; that we should 
put into early operation some provision for rural credits 
which will add to the extensive borrowing facilities 
already afforded the farmer by the Reserve Bank Act 
adequate instrumentalities by which long credits may 
be obtained on land mortgages; and that we should 
study more carefully than they have hitherto been 
studied the right adaptation of our economic arrange- 
ments to changing conditions. 



98 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

Many conditions about which we have repeatedly 
legislated are being altered from decade to decade, it 
is evident, under our very eyes, and are likely to change 
even more rapidly and more radically in the days im- 
mediately ahead of us, when peace has returned to the 
world and the nations of Europe once more take up 
their tasks of commerce and industry with the energy 
of those who must bestir themselves to build anew. 
Just what these changes will be no one can certainly 
foresee or confidently predict. There are no calculable, 
because no stable, elements in the problem. The most 
we can do is to make certain that we have the necessary 
instrumentalities of information constantly at our serv- 
ice so that we may be sure that we know exactly what 
we are dealing with when we come to act, if it should be 
necessary to act at all. We must first certainly know 
what it is that we are seeking to adapt ourselves to. 
I may ask the privilege of addressing you more at 
length on this important matter a little later in your 
session. 

In the meantime may I make this suggestion? The 
transportation problem is an exceedingly serious and 
pressing one in this country. There has from time to 
time of late been reason to fear that our railroads would 
not much longer be able to cope with it successfully, as 
at present equipped and coordinated. I suggest that 
it would be wise to provide for a commission of inquiry 
to ascertain by a thorough canvass of the whole question 
whether our laws as at present framed and adminis- 
tered are as serviceable as they might be in the solution 
of the problem. It is obviously a problem that lies at 
the very foundation of our efficiency as a people. Such 
an inquiry ought to draw out every circumstance and 
opinion worth considering and we need to know all 



GEEAT SPEECHES 99 

sides of the matter if we mean to do anything in the 
field of federal legislation. 

No one, I am sure, would wish to take any backward 
step. The regulation of the railways of the country by 
federal commission has had admirable results and has 
fully justified the hopes and expectations of those by 
whom the policy of regulation was originally proposed. 
The question is not what should we undo ? It is, whether 
there is anything else we can do that would supply us 
with effective means, in the very process of regulation, 
for bettering the conditions under which the railroads 
are operated and for making them more useful servants 
of the country as a whole. It seems to me that it might 
be the part of wisdom, therefore, before further legisla- 
tion in this field is attempted, to look at the whole prob- 
lem of coordination and efficiency in the full light of 
a fresh assessment of circumstance and opinion, as a 
guide to dealing with the several parts of it. 

For what we are seeking now, what in my mind is 
the single thought of this message, is national efficiency 
and security. We serve a great nation. We should 
serve it in the spirit of its peculiar genius. It is the 
genius of common men for self-government, industry, 
justice, liberty and peace. We should see to it that it 
lacks no instrument, no facility or vigor of law, to make 
it sufficient to play its part with energy, safety, and 
assured success. In this we are no partisans but heralds 
and prophets of a new age. 



100 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

THE SUBMARINE PERIL 

President Wilson's Address to Congress, April 19, 1916, 
on German Violations of International Law 

Gentlemen of the Congress: 

A situation has arisen in the foreign relations of the 
country of which it is my plain duty to inform you very 
frankly. 

It will be recalled that in February, 1915, the Imperial 
German Government announced its intention to treat 
the waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland as 
embraced within the seat of war and to destroy all 
merchant ships owned by its enemies that might be 
found within any part of that portion of the high seas, 
and that it warned all vessels, of neutral as well as of 
belligerent ownership, to keep out of the waters it had 
thus proscribed or else enter them at their peril. The 
Government of the United States earnestly protested. 
It took the position that such a policy could not be 
pursued without the practical certainty of gross and 
palpable violations of the law of nations, particularly 
if submarine craft were to be employed as its instru- 
ments, inasmuch as the rules prescribed by that law, 
rules founded upon principles of humanity and estab- 
lished for the protection of the lives of non-combatants 
at sea, could not in the nature of the case be observed 
by such vessels. It based its protest on the ground that 
persons of neutral nationality and vessels of neutral 
ownership would be exposed to extreme and intolerable 
risks, and tha.t no right to close any part of the high 
seas against their use or to expose them to such risks 
could lawfully be asserted by any belligerent govern- 
ment. The law of nations in these matters, upon which 



GEEAT SPEECHES 101 

the Government of the United States based its protest, 
is not of recent origin or founded upon merely arbitrary 
principles set up by convention. It is based, on the 
eontrary, upon manifest and imperative principles of 
humanity and has long been established with the ap- 
proval and by the express assent of all civilized nations. 

Notwithstanding the earnest protest of our Govern- 
ment, the Imperial German Government at once pro- 
ceeded to carry out the policy it had announced. It 
expressed the hope that the dangers involved, at any 
rate the dangers to neutral vessels, would be reduced to 
a minimum by the instructions which it had issued to 
its submarine commanders, and assured the Govern- 
ment of the United States that it would take every 
possible precaution both to respect the rights of neu- 
trals and to safeguard the lives of non-combatants. 

What has actually happened in the year which has 
since elapsed has shown that those hopes were not justi- 
fied, those assurances insusceptible of being fulfilled. 
In pursuance of the policy of submarine warfare against 
the commerce of its adversaries, thus announced and 
entered upon by the Imperial German Government in 
despite of the solemn protest of this Government, the 
commanders of German undersea vessels have attacked 
merchant ships with greater and greater activity, not 
only upon the high seas surrounding Great Britain and 
Ireland, but wherever they could encounter them, in a 
way that has grown more and more ruthless, more and 
more indiscriminate as the months have gone by, less 
and less observant of restraints of any kind; and have 
delivered their attacks without compunction against 
vessels of every nationality and bound upon every sort 
of errand. Vessels of neutral ownership, even vessels 
of neutral ownership bound from neutral port to neutral 



102 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

port, have been destroyed along with vessels of bel- 
ligerent ownership in constantly increasing numbers. 
Sometimes the merchantman attacked has been warned 
and summoned to surrender before being fired on or 
torpedoed; sometimes passengers or crews have been 
vouchsafed the poor security of being allowed to take 
to the ship's boats before she was sent to the bottom. 
But again and again no warning has been given, no 
escape even to the ship's boats allowed to those on 
board. What this Government foresaw must happen 
has happened. Tragedy has followed tragedy on the 
seas in such fashion, with such attendant circumstances, 
as to make it grossly evident that warfare of such a 
sort, if warfare it be, cannot be carried on without the 
most palpable violation of the dictates alike of right 
and of humanity. Whatever the disposition and inten- 
tion of the Imperial German Government, it has mani- 
festly proved impossible for it to keep such methods 
of attack upon the commerce of its enemies within the 
bounds set by either the reason or the heart of mankind. 
In February of the present year the Imperial German 
Government informed this Government and the other 
neutral governments of the world that it had reason to 
believe that the Government of Great Britain had armed 
all merchant vessels of British ownership and had given 
them secret orders to attack any submarine of the enemy 
they might encounter upon the seas, and that the Impe- 
rial German Government felt justified in the circum- 
stances in treating all armed merchantmen of belliger- 
ent ownership as auxiliary vessels of war, which it 
would have the right to destroy without warning. The 
law of nations has long recognized the right of mer- 
chantmen to carry arms for protection and to use them 
to repel attack, though to use them, in such circum- 



GREAT SPEECHES 103 

stances, at their own risk; but the Imperial German 
Government claimed the right to set these understand- 
ings aside in circumstances which it deemed extraor- 
dinary. Even the terms in which it announced its 
purpose thus still further to relax the restraints it had 
previously professed its willingness and desire to put 
upon the operations of its submarines carried the plain 
implication that at least vessels which were not armed 
would still be exempt from destruction without warning 
and that personal safety would be accorded their pas- 
sengers and crews ; but even that limitation, if it was 
ever practicable to observe it, has in fact constituted no 
check at all upon the destruction of ships of every sort. 
Again and again the Imperial German Government 
has given this Government its solemn assurances that at 
least passenger ships would not be thus dealt with, and 
yet it has again and again permitted its undersea com- 
manders to disregard those assurances with entire im- 
punity. Great liners like the Lusitania and the Arabic 
and mere ferryboats like the Sussex have been attacked 
without a moment's warning, sometimes before they had 
even become aware that they were in the presence of an 
armed vessel of the enemy, and the lives of non-com- 
batants, passengers and crew, have been sacrificed 
wholesale, in a manner which the Government of the 
United States cannot but regard as wanton and without 
the slightest color of justification. No limit of any kind 
has in fact been set to the indiscriminate pursuit and 
destruction of merchantmen of all kinds and nationali- 
ties within the waters, constantly extending in area, 
where these operations have been carried on; and the 
roll of Americans who have lost their lives on ships thus 
attacked and destroyed has grown month by month 
until the ominous toll has mounted into the hundreds. 



104 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

One of the latest and most shocking instances of this 
method of warfare was that of the destruction of the 
French cross-Channel steamer Sussex. It must stand 
forth, as the sinking of the steamer Lusitania did, as so 
singularly tragical and unjustifiable as to constitute a 
truly terrible example of the inhumanity of submarine 
warfare as the commanders of German vessels have for 
the past twelvemonth been conducting it. If this in- 
stance stood alone, some explanation, some disavowal 
by the German Government, some evidence of criminal 
mistake or wilful disobedience on the part of the com- 
mander of the vessel that fired the torpedo might be 
sought or entertained ; but unhappily it does not stand 
alone. Recent events make the conclusion inevitable 
that it is only one instance, even though it be one of the 
most extreme and distressing instances, of the spirit and 
method of warfare which the Imperial German Govern- 
ment has mistakenly adopted, and which from the first 
exposed that Government to the reproach of thrusting 
all neutral rights aside in pursuit of its immediate 
objects. 

The Government of the United States has been very 
patient. At every stage of this distressing experience 
of tragedy after tragedy in which its own citizens were 
involved it has sought to be restrained from any extreme 
course of action or of protest by a thoughtful considera- 
tion of the extraordinary circumstances of this unprece- 
dented war, and actuated in all that it said or did by the 
sentiments of genuine friendship which the people of the 
United States have always entertained and continue to 
entertain towards the German nation. It has, of course, 
accepted the successive explanations and assurances 
of the Imperial German Government as given in entire 
sincerity and good faith, and has hoped, even against 



GREAT SPEECHES 105 

hope, that it would prove to be possible for the German 
Government so to order and control the acts of its naval 
commanders as to square its policy with the principles 
of humanity as embodied in the law of nations. It has 
been willing to wait until the significance of the facts 
became absolutely unmistakable and susceptible of but 
one interpretation. 

That point has now unhappily been reached. The 
facts are susceptible of but one interpretation. The 
Imperial German Government has been unable to put 
any limits or restraints upon its warfare against either 
freight or passenger ships. It has therefore become 
painfully evident that the position which this Govern- 
ment took at the very outset is inevitable, namely, that 
the use of submarines for the destruction of an enemy's 
commerce is of necessity, because of the very character 
of the vessels employed and the very methods of attack 
which their employment of course involves, incompat- 
ible with the principles of humanity, the long estab- 
lished and incontrovertible rights of neutrals, and the 
sacred immunities of non-combatants. 

I have deemed it my duty, therefore, to say to the 
Imperial German Government that if it is still its pur- 
pose to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare 
against vessels of commerce by the use of submarines, 
notwithstanding the now demonstrated impossibility of 
conducting that warfare in accordance with what the 
Government of the United States must consider the 
sacred and indisputable rules of international law and 
the universally recognized dictates of humanity, the 
Government of the United States is at last forced to 
the conclusion that there is but one course it can pursue ; 
and that unless the Imperial German Government 
should now immediately declare and effect an abandon- 



106 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

ment of its present methods of warfare against pas- 
senger and freight carrying vessels this Government 
can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with 
the Government of the German Empire altogether. 

This decision I have arrived at with the keenest 
regret; the possibility of the action contemplated I 
am sure all thoughtful Americans will look forward to 
with unaffected reluctance. But we cannot forget that 
we are in some sort and by the force of circumstances 
the responsible spokesmen of the rights of humanity, 
and that we cannot remain silent while those rights 
seem in process of being swept utterly away in the 
maelstrom of this terrible war. We owe it to a due 
regard for our own rights as a nation, to our sense of 
duty as a representative of the rights of neutrals the 
world over, and to a just conception of the rights of 
mankind to take this stand now with the utmost solemnity 
and firmness. 

I have taken it, and taken it in the confidence that 
it will meet with your approval and support. All sober- 
minded men must unite in hoping that the Imperial 
German Government, which has in other circumstances 
stood as the champion of all that we are now contending 
for in the interest of humanity, may recognize the jus- 
tice of our demands and meet them in the spirit in 
which they are made. 



* GREAT SPEECHES 107 

THE PRESIDENT'S INNER SELF 

Remarkable Heart-to- Heart Talk to Newspaper Men at 
the National Press Club, May 15, 1916 

Mr. President and Gentlemen op the Press Club : 

I am both glad and sorry to be here ; glad because I am 
always happy to be with you, and know and like so many 
of you, and sorry because I have to make a speech. One 
of the leading faults of you gentlemen of the press is 
your inordinate desire to hear other men talk, to draw 
them out upon all occasions, whether they wish to be 
drawn out or not. I remember being in this Press Club 
once before, making many unpremeditated disclosures of 
myself, and then having you with your singular instinct 
for publicity insist that I should give it away to every- 
body else. 

I was thinking as I was looking forward to coming 
here this evening of that other occasion when I stood 
very nearly at the threshold of the duties that I have 
since been called upon to perform, and I was going over 
in my mind the impressions that I then had by way of 
forecast of the duties of President and comparing them 
with the experiences that have followed. I must say 
that the forecast has been very largely verified, and that 
the impressions I had then have been deepened rather 
than weakened. 

You may recall that I said then that I felt constantly a 
personal detachment from the Presidency ; that one thing 
that I resented when I was not performing the duties of 
the office was being reminded that I was the President 
of the United States. I felt toward it as a man feels 
toward a great function which, in working hours, he is 
obliged to perform, but which, out of working hours, he 



108 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

is glad to get away from and almost forget and resume 
the quiet course of his own thoughts. I am constantly 
reminded as I go about, as I do sometimes at the week 
end, of the personal inconvenience of being President of 
the United States. If I want to know how many people 
live in a small town all I have to do is to go there and 
they at once line up to be counted. I might, in a census- 
taking year, save the census takers a great deal of trouble 
by asking them to accompany me and count the people 
on the spot. Sometimes, when I am most beset, I seri- 
ously think of renting a pair of whiskers or of doing 
something else that will furnish me with an adequate 
disguise, because I am sorry to find that the cut of my 
jib is unmistakable and that I must sail under false colors 
if I am going to sail incognito. 

Yet as I have matched my experiences with my antici- 
pations, I, of course, have been aware that I was taken 
by surprise because of the prominence of many things 
to which I had not looked forward. When we are deal- 
ing with domestic affairs, gentlemen, we are dealing with 
things that to us as Americans are more or less calculable. 
There is a singular variety among our citizenship, it is 
true, a greater variety even than I had anticipated ; but, 
after all, we are all steeped in the same atmosphere, we 
are all surrounded by the same environment, we are all 
more or less affected by the same traditions, and, more- 
over, we are working out something that has to be worked 
out among ourselves, and the elements are there to be 
dealt with at first hand. But when the fortunes of your 
own country are, so to say, subject to the incalculable 
winds of passion that are blowing through other parts 
of the world, then the strain is of a singular and unpre- 
cedented kind, because you do not know by what turn of 
the wheel of fortune the control of things is going to be 



GEEAT SPEECHES 109 

taken out of your hand ; it makes no difference how deep 
the passion of the Nation lies, that passion may be so 
overborne by the rush of fortune in circumstances like 
those which now exist that you feel the sort of — I had 
almost said resentment that a man feels when his own 
affairs are not within his own hands. You can imagine 
the strain upon the feeling of any man who is trying to 
interpret the spirit of his country when he feels that that 
spirit can not have its own way beyond a certain point. 
And one of the greatest points of strain upon me, if I 
may be permitted to point it out, was this : 

There are two reasons why the chief wish of America 
is for peace. One is that they love peace and have noth- 
ing to do with the present quarrel ; and the other is that 
they believe the present quarrel has carried those engaged 
in it so far that they can not be held to ordinary stand- 
ards of responsibility, and that, therefore, as some men 
have expressed it to me, since the rest of the world is mad, 
why should we not simply refuse to have anything to do 
with the rest of the world in the ordinary channels of 
action ? Why not let the storm pass, and then, when it 
is all over, have the reckonings? Knowing that from 
both these two points of view the passion of America was 
for peace, I was, nevertheless, aware that America is one 
of the Nations of the world, not only, but one of the chief 
Nations of the world — a Nation that grows more and more 
powerful almost in spite of herself; that grows morally 
more and more influential even when she is not aware of 
it; and that if she is to play the part which she most 
covets, it is necessary that she should act more or less 
from the point of view of the rest of the world. If I can 
not retain my moral influence over a man except by occa- 
sionally knocking him down, if that is the only basis upon 
which he will respect me, then for the sake of his soul I 



HO PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

have got occasionally to knock him down. You know hovr 
we have read in — isn't it in Ralph Connor's stories of 
western life in Canada ? — that all his sky pilots are ready 
for a fracas at any time, and how the ultimate salvation 
of the souls of their parishioners depends upon their 
using their fists occasionally. If a man will not listen to 
you quietly in a seat, sit on his neck and make him listen ; 
just as I have always maintained, particularly in view of 
certain experiences of mine, that the shortest road to a 
boy 's moral sense is through his cuticle. There is a direct 
and, if I may be permitted the pun, a fundamental con- 
nection between the surface of his skin and his moral 
consciousness. You arrest his attention first in that way, 
and then get the moral lesson conveyed to him in milder 
ways that, if he were grown up, would be the only ways 
you would use. 

So I say that I have been aware that in order to do the 
very thing that we are proudest of the ability to do, there 
might come a time when we would have to do it in a way 
that we would prefer not to do it ; and the great burden on 
my spirits, gentlemen, has been that it has been up to me 
to choose when that time came. Can you imagine a thing 
more calculated to keep a man awake at nights than that ? 
Because, just because I did not feel that I was the whole 
thing and was aware that my duty was a duty of inter- 
pretation, how could I be sure that I had the right ele- 
ments of information by which to interpret truly? 

"What we are now talking about is largely spiritual. 
You say, "All the people out my way think so and so." 
Now, I know perfectly well that you have not talked with 
all the people out your way. I find that out again and 
again. And so you are taken by surprise. The people 
of the United States are not asking anybody's leave to 
do their own thinking, and are not asking anybody to tip 



GREAT SPEECHES HI 

them off what they ought to think. They are thinking for 
themselves, every man for himself ; and you do not know, 
and, the worst of it is, since the responsibility is mine, I 
do not know what they are thinking about. I have the 
most imperfect means of finding out, and yet I have got 
to act as if I knew. That is the burden of it, and I tell 
you, gentlemen, it is a pretty serious burden, particularly 
if you look upon the office as I do — that I am not put here 
to do what I please. If I were, it would have been very 
much more interesting than it has been. I am put here 
to interpret, to register, to suggest, and, more than that, 
and much greater than that, to be suggested to. 

Now, that is where the experience that I forecast has 
differed from the experience that I have had. In do- 
mestic matters I think I can in most cases come pretty 
near a guess where the thought of America is going, but 
in foreign affairs the chief element is where action is 
going on in other quarters of the world and not where 
thought is going in the United States. Therefore, I have 
several times taken the liberty of urging upon you gen- 
tlemen not yourselves to know more than the State De- 
partment knows about foreign affairs. Some of you 
have shown a singular range of omniscience, and certain 
things have been reported as understood in administra- 
tive circles which I never heard of until I read the news- 
papers. I am constantly taken by surprise in regard 
to decisions which are said to be my own, and this gives 
me an uncomfortable feeling that some providence is at 
work with which I have had no communication at all. 
Now, that is pretty dangerous, gentlemen, because it hap- 
pens that remarks start fires. There is tinder lying every- 
where, not only on the other side of the water, but on this 
side of the water, and a man that spreads sparks may 
be responsible for something a great deal worse than 



112 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

burning a town on the Mexican border. Thoughts may 
be bandits. Thoughts may be raiders. Thoughts may 
be invaders. Thoughts may be disturbers of interna- 
tional peace ; and when you reflect upon the importance 
of this country keeping out of the present war, you will 
know what tremendous elements we are all dealing with. 
We are all in the same boat. If somebody does not keep 
the processes of peace going, if somebody does not keep 
their passions disengaged, by what impartial judgment 
and suggestion is the world to be aided to a solution when 
the whole thing is over? If you are in a conference in 
which you know nobody is disinterested, how are you 
going to make a plan? I tell you this, gentlemen, the 
only thing that saves the world is the little handful of 
disinterested men that are in it. 

Now, I have found a few disinterested men. I wish I 
had found more. I can name two or three men with 
whom I have conferred again and again and again, and 
I have never caught them by an inadvertence thinking 
about themselves for their own interests, and I tie to 
those men as you would tie to an anchor. I tie to them 
as you would tie to the voices of conscience if you could 
be sure that you always heard them. Men who have no 
axes to grind ! Men who love America so that they would 
give their lives for it and never care whether anybody 
heard that they had given their lives for it ; willing to die 
in obscurity if only they might serve ! Those are the 
men, and nations like those men are the nations that are 
going to serve the world and save it. There never was a 
time in the history of the world when character, just 
sheer character all by itself, told more than it does now. 
A friend of mine says that every man who takes office in 
"Washington either grows or swells, and when I give a 
man an office, I watch him carefully to see whether he is 



GBEAT SPEECHES 113 

swelling or growing. The mischief of it is that when 
they swell they do not swell enough to burst. If they 
would only swell to the point where you might insert a 
pin and let the gases out, it would be a great delight. I 
do not know any pastime that would be more diverting, 
except that the gases are probably poisonous, so that we 
would have to stand from under. But the men who 
grow, the men who think better a year after they are put 
in office than they thought when they were put in office, 
are the balance wheel of the whole thing. They are the 
ballast that enables the craft to carry sail and to make 
port in the long run, no matter what the weather is. 

So I have come willing to make this narrative of experi- 
ence to you. I have come through the fire since I talked 
to you last. Whether the metal is purer than it was, God 
only knows ; but the fire has been there, the fire has pene- 
trated every part of it, and if I may believe my own 
thoughts I have less partisan feeling, more impatience 
of party maneuver, more enthusiasm for the right thing, 
no matter whom it hurts, than I ever had before in my 
life. And I have something that it is no doubt danger- 
ous to have, but that I can not help having. I have a pro- 
found intellectual contempt for men who can not see the 
signs of the times. I have to deal with some men who 
know no more of the modern processes of politics than if 
they were living in the eighteenth century, and for them 
I have a profound and comprehensive intellectual con- 
tempt. They are blind. They are hopelessly blind ; and 
the worst of it is I have to spend hours of my time talking 
to them when I know before I start as much as after I 
have finished that it is absolutely useless to talk to them. 
I am talking in vacuo. 

The business of every one of us, gentlemen, is to realize 
that if we are correspondents of papers who have not yet 



114 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

heard of modern times we ought to send them as many 
intimations of modern movements as they are willing to 
print. There is a simile that was used "by a very inter- 
esting English writer that has been much in my mind. 
Like myself, he had often been urged not to try to change 
so many things. I remember when I was president of a 
university a man said to me, ' ' Good heavens, man, why 
don't you leave something alone and let it stay the way 
it is?" And I said, "If you will guarantee to me that 
it will stay the way it is I will let it alone ; but if you knew 
anything you would know that if you leave a live thing 
alone it will not stay where it is. It will develop and will 
either go in the wrong direction or decay. ' ' I reminded 
him of this thing that the English writer said, that if 
you want to keep a white post white you can not let it 
alone. It will get black. You have to keep doing some- 
thing to it. In that instance you have got to keep paint- 
ing it white, and you have got to paint it white very 
frequently in order to keep it white, because there are 
forces at work that will get the better of you. Not only 
will it turn black, but the forces of moisture and the other 
forces of nature will penetrate the white paint and get 
at the fiber of the wood, and decay will set in, and the 
next time you try to paint it you will find that there is 
nothing but punk to paint. Then you will remember 
the Red Queen in "Alice in Wonderland," or "Alice 
Through the Looking Glass" — I forget which, it has been 
so long since I read them — who takes Alice by the hand 
and they rush along at a great pace, and then when they 
stop Alice looks around and says, "But we are just where 
we were when we started. " " Yes, ' ' says the Red Queen, 
"you have to run twice as fast as that to get anywhere 
else." 

That is also true, gentlemen, of the world and of affairs. 



GEEAT SPEECHES 115 

You have got to run fast merely to stay where you are, 
and in order to get anywhere, you have got to run twice 
as fast as that. That is what people do not realize. That 
is the mischief of these hopeless dams against the stream 
known as reactionaries and standpatters, and other words 
of obloquy. That is what is the matter with them ; they 
are not even staying where they were. They are sinking 
further and further back in what will sometime com- 
fortably close over their heads as the black waters of 
oblivion. I sometimes imagine that I see their heads 
going down, and I am not inclined even to throw them 
a life preserver. The sooner they disappear, the better. 
We need their places for people who are awake ; and we 
particularly need now, gentlemen, men who will divest 
themselves of party passion and of personal preference 
and will try to think in the terms of America. If a man 
describes himself to me now in any other terms than 
those terms, I am not sure of him ; and I love the fellows 
that come into my office sometimes and say, "Mr. Presi- 
dent, I am an American. ' ' Their hearts are right, their 
instinct true, they are going in the right direction, and 
will take the right leadership if they believe that the 
leader is also a man who thinks first of America. 

You will see, gentlemen, that I did not premeditate 
these remarks, or they would have had some connection 
with each other. They would have had some plan. I 
have merely given myself the pleasure of telling you 
what has really been in my heart, and not only has been 
in my heart but is in my heart every day of the week. If 
I did not go off at week ends occasionally and throw off, 
as much as it is possible to throw off, this burden, I could 
not stand it. This week I went down the Potomac and 
up the James and substituted history for politics, and 
there was an infinite, sweet calm in some of those old 



116 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

places that reminded me of the records that were made 
in the days that are past ; and I comforted myself with 
the recollection that the men we remember are the disin- 
terested men who gave us the deeds that have covered 
the name of America all over with the luster of imperish- 
able glory. 



GEEAT SPEECHES 117 

ADDRESS TO THE LEAGUE 
TO ENFORCE PEACE 

Washington, May 27, 1916 

When the invitation to be here tonight came to me, I 
was glad to accept it, — not because it offered me an 
opportunity to discuss the programme of the League, — 
that you will, I am sure, not expect of me, — but because 
the desire of the whole world now turns eagerly, more 
and more eagerly, toward the hope of peace, and there 
is just reason why we should take our part in counsel 
upon this great theme. It is right that I, as spokesman 
of our Government, should attempt to give expression 
to what I believe to be the thought and purpose of the 
people of the United States in this vital matter. 

This great war that broke so suddenly upon the world 
two years ago, and which has swept within its flame so 
great a part of the civilized world, has affected us very 
profoundly, and we are not only at liberty, it is perhaps 
our duty, to speak very frankly of it and of the great 
interests of civilization which it affects. 

With its causes and its objects we are not concerned. 
The obscure fountains from which its stupendous flood 
has burst forth we are not interested to search for or 
explore. But so great a flood, spread far and wide to 
every quarter of the globe, has of necessity engulfed 
many a fair province of right that lies very near to us. 
Our own rights as a Nation, the liberties, the privileges, 
and the property of our people have been profoundly 
affected. We are not mere disconnected lookers-on. 
The longer the war lasts, the more deeply do we become 
concerned that it should be brought to an end and the 
world be permitted to resume its normal life and course 



US PRESIDENT WTLSCr 

.. And when i: does eon I n end ve shall be 
as much concerned as tl oati : war to see peace 

give promise of days 

. :-h the m ' shall he lifted, 

-suranee th&: and war shall always 

ned part of the common interest of 

mankind. We are participants, whether we would or 

n I in the life of the world. The interests of all nations 

■re our own also. We are partners with the rest. 

What affects mankind is inevitably our affair as well 

iz : the nations : I rope and of Asia. 

Onr wiion on the causes of the present war we 

t liberty to make, and to make it may throw some 

. - - forward upon the future, as well as backward 

upon the past It is plain that this war could have 

come only as it did. suddenly and out of secret counsels, 

at warning to the world, without discussion. " 
out any of the deliberate movements of counsel with 
which it would seem natural to approach so stupendous 
a contest. It is probable that :: it had been foreseen 
I " old happen, just what alliances would be 
formed., just what forces arrayed against one an: - 
those who brought the great contest on would have been 
glad to substitute conference for force. If we ourselves 
had been afforded some opportunity to apprise the 
nts oi the attitude which it would be our duty 
to take, of the policies and practices against which we 
would feel bound to use all our moral and economic 
strength, and in certain circumstances even our physical 
strength also, our own contribution to the counsel which 
_ : have averted the struggle would have been con- 
red worth weighing and regarding. 
And the lesson which the shock of being taken by 
surprise in a matter so deeply vital to all the nations of 



GEEAT SPEECHES 119 

the world has made poignantly clear is, that the peace of 
the world must henceforth depend upon a new and more 
wholesome diplomacy. Only when the great nations 
of the world have reached some sort of agreement as to 
what they hold to be fundamental to their common 
interest, and as to some feasible method of acting in 
concert when any nation or group of nations seeks to 
disturb those fundamental things, can we feel that 
civilization is at last in a way of justifying its existence 
and claiming to be finally established. It is clear that 
nations must in the future be governed by the same 
high code of honor that we demand of individuals. 

"We must, indeed, in the very same breath with which 
we avow this conviction, admit that we have ourselves 
upon occasion in the past been offenders against the law 
of diplomacy which we thus forecast : but our conviction 
is not the less clear, but rather the more clear, on that 
account. If this war has accomplished nothing else for 
the benefit of the world, it has at least disclosed a great 
moral necessity and set forward the thinking of the states- 
men of the world by a whole age. Repeated utterances 
of the leading statesmen of most of the great nations now 
engaged in war have made it plain that their thought has 
come to this, that the principle of public right must 
henceforth take precedence over the individual interests 
of particular nations, and that the nations of the world 
must in some way band themselves together to see that 
that right prevails as against any sort of selfish aggres- 
sion ; that henceforth alliance must not be set up against 
alliance, understanding against understanding, but that 
there must be a common agreement for a common object, 
and that at the heart of that common object must lie the 
inviolable rights of peoples and of mankind. The na- 
tions of the world have become each other's neighbors. 



120 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

It is to their interest that they should understand each 
other. In order that they may understand each other, it 
is imperative that they should agree to cooperate in a 
common cause, and that they should so act that the guid- 
ing principle of that common cause shall be even-handed 
and impartial justice. 

This is undoubtedly the thought of America. This is 
what we ourselves will say when there comes proper occa- 
sion to say it. In the dealings of nations with one an- 
other arbitrary force must be rejected and we must move 
forward to the thought of the modern world, the thought of 
which peace is the very atmosphere. That thought consti- 
tutes a chief part of the passionate conviction of America. 

We believe these fundamental things : First, that every 
people has aright to choose the sovereignty under which 
they shall live. Like other nations, we have ourselves 
no doubt once and again offended against that principle 
when for a little while controlled by selfish passion, as our 
franker historians have been honorable enough to admit ; 
but it has become more and more our rule of life and 
action. Second, that the small states of the world have 
a right to enjoy the same respect for their sovereignty and 
for their territorial integrity that great and powerful 
nations expect and insist upon. And, third, that the 
world has a right to be free from every disturbance of 
its peace that has its origin in aggression and disregard 
of the rights of peoples and nations. 

So sincerely do we believe in these things that I am 
sure that I speak the mind and wish of the people of 
America when I say that the United States is willing to 
become a partner in any feasible association of nations 
formed in order to realize these objects and make them 
secure against violation. 

There is nothing that the United States wants for 



GSEAT SPEECHES 121 

itself that any other nation has. We are willing, on the 
contrary, to limit ourselves along with them to a pre- 
scribed course of duty and respect for the rights of others 
which will check any selfish passion of our own, as it will 
check any aggressive impulse of theirs. 

If it should ever be our privilege to suggest or initiate 
a movement for peace among the nations now at war, I am 
sure that the people of the United States would wish their 
Government to move along these lines: First, such a 
settlement with regard to their own immediate interests 
as the belligerents may agree upon. We have nothing 
material of any kind to ask for ourselves, and are quite 
aware that we are in no sense or degree parties to the 
present quarrel. Our interest is only in peace and its 
future guarantees. Second, an universal association of 
the nations to maintain the inviolate security of the high- 
way of the seas for the common and unhindered use of 
all the nations of the world, and to prevent any war begun 
either contrary to treaty covenants or without warning 
and full submission of the causes to the opinion of the 
world — a virtual guarantee of territorial integrity and 
political independence. 

But I did not come here, let me repeat, to discuss a 
programme. I came only to avow a creed and give ex- 
pression to the confidence I feel that the world is even 
now upon the eve of a great consummation, when some 
common force will be brought into existence which shall 
safeguard right as the first and most fundamental inter- 
est of all peoples and all governments, when coercion 
shall be summoned not to the service of political ambition 
or selfish hostility, but to the service of a common order, 
a common justice, and a common peace. God grant that 
the dawn of that day of frank dealing and of settled peace, 
concord, and cooperation may be near at hand ! 



122 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

ON ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S BIRTHPLACE 

Mr. Wilson's Address on the Acceptance by the War 

Department of a Deed of Gift to the Nation of the 

Lincoln Farm at Hodgenville, Kentucky, 

September 4, 1913 

No more significant memorial could have been pre- 
sented to the nation than this. It expresses so much of 
what is singular and noteworthy in the history of the 
country ; it suggests so many of the things that we prize 
most highly in our life and in our system of government. 
How eloquent this little house within this shrine is of 
the vigor of democracy! There is nowhere in the land 
any home so remote, so humble, that it may not contain 
the power of mind aud heart and conscience to which 
nations yield and history submits its processes. Nature 
pays no tribute to aristocracy, subscribes to no creed of 
caste, renders fealty to no monarch or master of any 
name or kind. Genius is no snob. It does not run after 
titles or seek by preference the high circles of society. 
It affects humble company as well as great. It pays no 
special tribute to universities or learned societies or con- 
ventional standards of greatness, but serenely chooses its 
own comrades, its own haunts, its own cradle even, and 
its own life of adventure and of training. Here is proof 
of it. This little hut was the cradle of one of the great 
sons of men, a man of singular, delightful, vital genius 
who presently emerged, upon the great stage of the na- 
tion's history, gaunt, shy, ungainly, but dominant and 
majestic, a natural ruler of men, himself inevitably the 
central figure of the great plot. No man can explain 
this, but every man can see how it demonstrates the vigor 
of democracy, where every door is open, in every hamlet 



GREAT SPEECHES 123 

and countryside, in city and wilderness alike, for the ruler 
to emerge when he will and claim his leadership in the 
free life. Such are the authentic proofs of the validity 
and vitality of democracy. 

Here, no less, hides the mystery of democracy. Who 
shall guess this secret of nature and providence and a 
free polity? Whatever the vigor and vitality of the 
stock from which he sprang, its mere vigor and sound- 
ness do not explain where this man got his great heart 
that seemed to comprehend all mankind in its catholic 
and benignant sympathy, the mind that sat enthroned 
behind those brooding, melancholy eyes, whose vision 
swept many an horizon which those about him dreamed 
not of — that mind that comprehended what it had never 
seen, and understood the language of affairs with the 
ready ease of one to the manner born — or that nature 
which seemed in its varied richness to be the familiar of 
men of every way of life. This is the sacred mystery of 
democracy, that its richest fruits spring up out of soils 
which no man has prepared and in circumstances amidst 
which they are the least expected. This is a place alike 
of mystery and of reassurance. 

It is likely that in a society ordered otherwise than our 
own, Lincoln could not have found himself or the path of 
fame and power upon which he walked serenely to his 
death. In this place it is right that we should remind. 
ourselves of the solid and striking facts upon which our 
faith in democracy is founded. Many another man be- 
sides Lincoln has served the nation in its highest places 
of counsel and of action whose origins were as humble as 
his. Though the greatest example of the universal energy, 
richness, stimulation, and force of democracy, he is only 
one example among many. The permeating and all-per- 
vasive virtue of the freedom which challenges us in Amer- 



124 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

ica to make the most of every gift and power we possess, 
every page of our history serves to emphasize and illus- 
trate. Standing here in this place, it seems almost the 
whole of the stirring story. 

Here Lincoln had his beginnings. Here the end and 
consummation of that great life seem remote and a bit 
incredible. And yet there was no break anywhere be- 
tween beginning and end, no lack of natural sequence 
anywhere. Nothing really incredible happened. Lin- 
coln was unaffectedly as much at home in the White 
House as he was here. Do you share with me the feeling, 
I wonder, that he was permanently at home nowhere? 
It seems to me that in the case of a man — I would rather 
say of a spirit — like Lincoln the question where he was is 
of little significance, that it is always what he was that 
really arrests our thought and takes hold of our imagi- 
nation. It is the spirit always that is sovereign. Lin- 
coln, like the rest of us, was put through the discipline 
of the world — a very rough and exacting discipline for 
him, an indispensable discipline for every man who would 
know what he is about in the midst of the world 's affairs ; 
but his spirit got only its schooling there. It did not 
derive its character or its vision from the experiences 
which brought it to its full revelation. The test of every 
American must always be, not where he is, but what he is. 
That, also, is of the essence of democracy, and is the 
moral of which this place is most gravely expressive. 

We would like to think of men like Lincoln and Wash- 
ington as typical Americans, but no man can be typical 
who is so unusual as these great men were. It was typ- 
ical of American life that it should produce such men 
with supreme indifference as to the manner in which it 
produced them, and as readily here in this hut as amidst 
the little circle of cultivated gentlemen to whom Virginia 



GBEAT SPEECHES 125 

owed so much in leadership and example. And Lincoln 
and Washington were typical Americans in the use they 
made of their genius. But there will be few such men at 
best, and we will not look into the mystery of how and 
why they come. We will only keep the door open for 
them always, and a hearty welcome — after we have rec- 
ognized them. 

I have read many biographies of Lincoln ; I have sought 
out with the greatest interest the many intimate stories 
that are told of him, the narratives of nearby friends, the 
sketches at close quarters, in which those who had the 
privilege of being associated with him have tried to depict 
for us the very man himself ' ' in his habit as he lived ' ' ; 
but I have nowhere found a real intimate of Lincoln's. 
I nowhere get the impression in any narrative or remi- 
niscence that the writer had in fact penetrated to the 
heart of his mystery, or that any man could penetrate to 
the heart of it. That brooding spirit had no real famil- 
iars. I get the impression that it never spoke out in 
complete self-revelation, and that it could not reveal 
itself completely to anyone. It was a very lonely spirit 
that looked out from underneath those shaggy brows and 
comprehended men without fully communing with them, 
as if, in spite of all its genial efforts at comradeship, it 
dwelt apart, saw its visions of duty where no man looked 
on. There is a very holy and very terrible isolation for 
the conscience of every man who seeks to read the destiny 
in affairs for others as well as for himself, for a nation 
as well as for individuals. That privacy no man can 
intrude upon. That lonely search of the spirit for the 
right perhaps no man can assist. This strange child of 
the cabin kept company with invisible things, was born 
into no intimacy but that of its own silently assembling 
and deploying thoughts. 



126 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

I have come here today, not to utter a eulogy on Lin- 
coln ; he stands in need of none, but to endeavor to inter- 
pret the meaning of this gift to the nation of the place 
of his birth and origin. Is not this an altar upon which 
we may forever keep alive the vestal fire of democracy 
as upon a shrine at which some of the deepest and most 
sacred hopes of mankind may from age to age be rekin- 
dled? For these hopes must constantly be rekindled, 
and only those who live can rekindle them. The only 
stuff that can retain the life-giving heat is the stuff of 
living hearts. And the hopes of mankind cannot be 
kept alive by words merely, by constitutions and doc- 
trines of right and codes of liberty. The object of de- 
mocracy is to transmute these into the life and action of 
society, the self-denial and self-sacrifice of heroic men 
and women willing to make their lives an embodiment of 
right and service and enlightened purpose. The com- 
mands of democracy are as imperative as its privileges 
and opportunities are wide and generous. Its compul- 
sion is upon us. It will be great and lift a great light 
for the guidance of the nations only if we are great and 
carry that light high for the guidance of our own feet. 
"We are not worthy to stand here unless we ourselves be 
in deed and in truth real democrats and servants of man- 
kind, ready to give our very lives for the freedom and 
justice and spiritual exaltation of the great nation which 
shelters and nurtures us. 



GREAT SPEECHES 127 

PREVENTING A GREAT RAILROAD 
STRIKE 

Address of the President to Congress on the Threatening 
Situation, August 29, 1916 

Gentlemen of the Congress : 

I have come to you to seek your assistance in dealing 
with a very grave situation which has arisen out of the 
demand of the employees of the railroads engaged in 
freight train service that they be granted an eight-hour 
working day, safeguarded by payment for an hour and a 
half of service for every hour of work beyond the eight. 

The matter has been agitated for more than a year. 
The public has been made familiar with the demands of 
the men and the arguments urged in favor of them, and 
even more familiar with the objections of the railroads 
and their counter demand that certain privileges now 
enjoyed by their men and certain bases of payment 
worked out through many years of contest be reconsid- 
ered, especially in their relation to the adoption of an 
eight-hour day. The matter came some three weeks ago 
to a final issue and resulted in a complete deadlock be- 
tween the parties. The means provided by law for the 
mediation of the controversy failed and the means of 
arbitration for which the law provides were rejected. 
The representatives of the railway executives proposed 
that the demands of the men be submitted in their en- 
tirety to arbitration, along with certain questions of re- 
adjustment as to pay and conditions of employment which 
seemed to them to be either closely associated with the 
demands or to call for reconsideration on their own 
merits; the men absolutely declined arbitration, espe- 
cially if any of their established privileges were by that 



128 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

means to be drawn again in question. The law in the 
matter put no compulsion upon them. The four hun- 
dred thousand men from whom the demands proceeded 
had voted to strike if their demands were refused; the 
strike was imminent ; it has since been set for the fourth 
of September next. It affects the men who man the 
freight trains on practically every railway in the coun- 
try. The freight service throughout the United States 
must stand still until their places are filled, if, indeed, it 
should prove possible to fill them at all. Cities will be 
cut off from their food supplies, the whole commerce of 
the nation will be paralyzed, men of every sort and occu- 
pation will be thrown out of employment, countless thou- 
sands will in all likelihood be brought, it may be, to the 
very point of starvation, and a tragical national calamity 
brought on, to be added to the other distresses of the 
time, because no basis of accommodation or settlement 
has been found. 

Just so soon-as it became evident that mediation under 
the existing law had failed and that arbitration had been 
rendered impossible by the attitude of the men, I consid- 
ered it my duty to confer with the representatives of both 
the railways and the brotherhoods, and myself offer me- 
diation, not as an arbitrator, but merely as spokesman 
of the nation, in the interest of justice, indeed, and as a 
friend of both parties, but not as judge, only as the rep- 
resentative of one hundred millions of men, women, and 
children who would pay the price, the incalculable price, 
of loss and suffering should these few men insist upon 
approaching and concluding the matters in controversy 
between them merely as employers and employees, rather 
than as patriotic citizens of the United States looking 
before and after and accepting the larger responsibility 
which the public would put upon them. 



GREAT SPEECHES 129 

It seemed to me, in considering the subject-matter of 
the controversy, that the whole spirit of the time and the 
preponderant evidence of recent economic experience 
spoke for the eight-hour day. It has been adjudged by 
the thought and experience of recent years a thing upon 
which society is justified in insisting as in the interest of 
health, efficiency, contentment, and a general increase of 
economic vigor. The whole presumption of modern ex- 
perience would, it seemed to me, be in its favor, whether 
there was arbitration or not, and the debatable points to 
settle were those which arose out of the acceptance of 
the eight-hour day rather than those which affected its 
establishment. I, therefore, proposed that the eight-hour 
day be adopted by the railway managements and put into 
practice for the present as a substitute for the existing 
ten-hour basis of pay and service ; that I should appoint, 
with the permission of the Congress, a small commission 
to observe the results of the change, carefully studying 
the figures of the altered operating costs, not only, but 
also the conditions of labor under which the men worked 
and the operation of their existing agreements with the 
railroads, with instructions to report the facts as they 
found them to the Congress at the earliest possible day, 
but without recommendation; and that, after the facts 
had been thus disclosed, an adjustment should in some 
orderly manner be sought of all the matters now left 
unadjusted between the railroad managers and the men. 

These proposals were exactly in line, it is interesting 
to note, with the position taken by the Supreme Court of 
the United States when appealed to to protect certain 
litigants from the financial losses which they confidently 
expected if they should submit to the regulation of their 
charges and of their methods of service by public legis- 
lation. The Court has held that it would not undertake 



120 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

to form a judgment upon forecasts, but could base its 
action only upon actual experience ; that it must be sup- 
plied with facts, not with calculations and opinions, how- 
ever scientifically attempted. To undertake to arbitrate 
the question of the adoption of an eight-hour day in the 
light of results merely estimated and predicted would be 
to undertake an enterprise of conjecture. No wise man 
could undertake it, or, if he did undertake it. could feel 
assured of his conclusions. 

I unhesitatingly offered the friendly services of the 
administration to the railway managers to see to it that 
justice was done the railroads in the outcome. I felt 
warranted in assuring them that no obstacle of law would 
be suffered to stand in the way of their increasing their 
revenues to meet the expenses resulting from the change 
so far as the development of their business and of their 
administrative efficiency did not prove adequate to meet 
them. The public and the representatives of the public, 
I felt justified in assuring them, were disposed to nothing 
but justice in such cases and were willing to serve those 
who served them. 

The representatives of the brotherhoods accepted the 
plan ; but the representatives of the railroads declined to 
accept it. In the face of what I cannot but regard as the 
practical certainty that they will be ultimately obliged 
to accept the eight-hour day by the concerted action of 
organized labor, backed by the favorable judgment of 
society, the representatives of the railway management 
have felt justified in declining a peaceful settlement which 
would engage all the forces of justice, public and private, 
on their side to take care of the event. They fear the 
hostile influence of shippers, who would be opposed to an 
increase of freight rates (for which, however, of course, 



GKEAT SPEECHES 131 

the public itself would pay) ; they apparently feel no 
confidence that the Interstate Commerce Commission 
could withstand the objections that would be made. They 
do not care to rely upon the friendly assurances of the 
Congress or the President. They have thought it best 
that they should be forced to yield, if they must yield, 
not by counsel, but by the suffering of the country. While 
my conferences with them were in progress, and when 
to all outward appearance those conferences had come to 
a standstill, the representatives of the brotherhoods sud- 
denly acted and set the strike for the fourth of September. 
The railway managers based their decision to reject my 
counsel in this matter upon their conviction that they 
must at any cost to themselves or to the country stand 
firm for the principle of arbitration which the men had 
rejected. I based my counsel upon the indisputable fact 
that there was no means of obtaining arbitration. The 
law supplied none ; earnest efforts at mediation had failed 
to influence the men in the least. To stand firm for the 
principle of arbitration and yet not get arbitration 
seemed to me futile, and something more than futile, be- 
cause it involved incalculable distress to the country and 
consequences in. some respects worse than those of war, 
and that in the midst of peace. 

I yield to no man in firm adherence, alike of conviction 
and of purpose, to the principle of arbitration in indus- 
trial disputes ; but matters have come to a sudden crisis 
in this particular dispute and the country had been caught 
unprovided with any practicable means of enforcing that 
conviction in practice (by whose fault we will not now 
stop to inquire). A situation had to be met whose ele- 
ments and fixed conditions were indisputable. The prac- 
tical and patriotic course to pursue, as it seemed to me, 



132 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

was to secure immediate peace by conceding the one thing 
in the demands of the men which society itself and any 
arbitrators who represented public sentiment were most 
likely to approve, and immediately lay the foundations 
for securing arbitration with regard to everything else 
involved. The event has confirmed that judgment. 

I was seeking to compose the present in order to safe- 
guard the future; for I wished an atmosphere of peace 
and friendly cooperation in which to take counsel with 
the representatives of the nation with regard to the best 
means for providing, so far as it might prove possible to 
provide, against the recurrence of such unhappy situa- 
tions in the future — the best and most practicable means 
of securing calm and fair arbitration of all industrial 
disputes in the days to come. This is assuredly the best 
way of vindicating a principle, namely, having failed to 
make certain of its observance in the present, to make 
certain of its observance in the future. 

But I could only propose. I could not govern the will 
of others who took an entirely different view of the cir- 
cumstances of the case, who even refused to admit the 
circumstances to be what they have turned out to be. 

Having failed to bring the parties to this critical con- 
troversy to an accommodation, therefore, I turn to you, 
deeming it clearly our duty as public servants to leave 
nothing undone that we can do to safeguard the life and 
interests of the nation. In the spirit of such a purpose, 
I earnestly recommend the following legislation : 

First, immediate provision for the enlargement and 
administrative reorganization of the Interstate Commerce 
Commission along the lines embodied in the bill recently 
passed by the House of Representatives and now await- 
ing action by the Senate ; in order that the Commission 



GREAT SPEECHES 133 

may be enabled to deal with the many great and various 
duties now devolving upon it with a promptness and 
thoroughness which are, with its present constitution and 
means of action, practically impossible. 

Second, the establishment of an eight-hour day as the 
legal basis alike of work and of wages in the employment 
of all railway employees who are actually engaged in the 
work of operating trains in interstate transportation. 

Third, the authorization of the appointment by the 
President of a small body of men to observe the actual 
results in experience of the adoption of the eight-hour 
day in railway transportation alike for the men and for 
the railroads ; its effects in the matter of operating costs, 
in the application of the existing practices and agree- 
ments to the new conditions and in all other practical 
aspects, with the provision that the investigators shall 
report their conclusions to the Congress at the earliest 
possible date, but without recommendation as to legisla- 
tive action; in order that the public may learn from an 
unprejudiced source just what actual developments have 
ensued. 

Fourth, explicit approval by the Congress of the con- 
sideration by the Interstate Commerce Commission of an 
increase of freight rates to meet such additional expend- 
itures by the railroads as may have been rendered neces- 
sary by the adoption of the eight-hour day and which 
have not been offset by administrative readjustments 
and economies, should the facts disclosed justify the 
increase. 

Fifth, an amendment of the existing federal statute 
which provides for the mediation, conciliation, and arbi- 
tration of such controversies as the present by adding to 
it a provision that in case the methods of accommodation 
now provided for should fail, a full public investigation 



134 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

of the merits of every such dispute shall be instituted 
and completed before a strike or lockout may lawfully be 
attempted. 

And, sixth, the lodgment in the hands of the Execu- 
tive of the power, in case of military necessity, to take 
control of such portions and such rolling stock of the 
railways of the country as may be required for military 
use and to operate them for military purposes, with au- 
thority to draft into the military service of the United 
States such train crews and administrative officials as 
the circumstances require for their safe and efficient use. 

This last suggestion I make because we cannot in any 
circumstances suffer the nation to be hampered in the 
essential matter of national defense. At the present 
moment circumstances render this duty particularly ob- 
vious. Almost the entire military force of the nation is 
stationed upon the Mexican border to guard our terri- 
tory against hostile raids. It must be supplied, and 
steadily supplied, with whatever it needs for its main- 
tenance and efficiency. If it should be necessary for 
purposes of national defense to transfer any portion of 
it upon short notice to some other part of the country, 
for reasons now unforeseen, ample means of transporta- 
tion must be available, and available without delay. The 
power conferred in this matter should be carefully and 
explicitly limited to cases of military necessity, but in all 
such cases it should be clear and ample. 

There is one other thing we should do if we are true 
champions of arbitration. We should make all arbitral 
awards judgments by record of a court of law in order 
that their interpretation and enforcement may lie, not 
with one of the parties to the arbitration, but with an 
impartial and authoritative tribunal. 



GREAT SPEECHES 135 

These things I urge upon you, not in haste or merely as 
a means of meeting a present emergency, but as perma- 
nent and necessary additions to the law of the land, sug- 
gested, indeed, by circumstances we had hoped never to 
see, but imperative as well as just, if such emergencies 
are to be prevented in the future. I feel that no ex- 
tended argument is needed to commend them to your 
favorable consideration. They demonstrate themselves. 
The time and the occasion only give emphasis to their 
importance. We need them now and we shall continue 
to need them. 



136 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

ANNUAL ADDRESS TO CONGRESS 

December 5, 1916 

Gentlemen op the Congress: 

In fulfilling at this time the duty laid upon me by the 
Constitution of communicating to you from time to time 
information of the state of the Union and recommending 
to your consideration such legislative measures as may 
be judged necessary and expedient, I shall continue the 
practice, which I hope has been acceptable to you, of 
leaving to the reports of the several heads of the execu- 
tive departments the elaboration of the detailed needs of 
the public service and confine myself to those matters of 
more general public policy with which it seems necessary 
and feasible to deal at the present session of the Congress. 

I realize the limitations of time under which you will 
necessarily act at this session and shall make my sugges- 
tions as few as possible ; but there were some things left 
undone at the last session which there will now be time 
to complete and which it seems necessary in the interest 
of the public to do at once. 

In the first place, it seems to me imperatively necessary 
that the earliest possible consideration and action should 
be accorded the remaining measures of the programme 
of settlement and regulation which I had occasion to 
recommend to you at the close of your last session in view 
of the public dangers disclosed by the unaccommodated 
difficulties which then existed, and which still unhappily 
continue to exist, between the railroads of the country 
and their locomotive engineers, conductors, and trainmen. 

I then recommended : 

First, immediate provision for the enlargement and 
administrative reorganization of the Interstate Com- 



GREAT SPEECHES 137 

merce Commission along the lines embodied in the bill 
recently passed by the House of Representatives and 
now awaiting action by the Senate; in order that the 
Commission may be enabled to deal with the many great 
and various duties now devolving upon it with a prompt- 
ness and thoroughness which are, with its present con- 
stitution and means of action, practically impossible. 

Second, the establishment of an eight-hour day as the 
legal basis alike of work and of wages in the employment 
of all railway employees who are actually engaged in the 
work of operating trains in interstate transportation. 

Third, the authorization of the appointment by the 
President of a small body of men to observe the actual 
results in experience of the adoption of the eight-hour 
day in railway transportation alike for the men and for 
the railroads. 

Fourth, explicit approval by the Congress of the con- 
sideration by the Interstate Commerce Commission of an 
increase of freight rates to meet such additional expend- 
itures by the railroads as may have been rendered neces- 
sary by the adoption of the eight-hour day and which 
have not been offset by administrative readjustments 
and economies, should the facts disclosed justify the 
increase. 

Fifth, an amendment of the existing federal statute 
which provides for the mediation, conciliation, and arbi- 
tration of such controversies as the present by adding 
to it a provision that, in case the methods of accommo- 
dation now provided for should fail, a full public inves- 
tigation of the merits of every such dispute shall be 
instituted and completed before a strike or lockout may 
lawfully be attempted. 

And, sixth, the lodgment in the hands of the Executive 
of the power, in case of military necessity, to take control 



138 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

of such portions and such rolling stock of the railways 
of the country as may he required for military use and 
to operate them for military purposes, with authority to 
draft into the military service of the United States such 
train crews and administrative officials as the circum- 
stances require for their safe and efficient use. 

The second and third of these recommendations the 
Congress immediately acted on ; it established the eight- 
hour day as the legal basis of work and wages in train 
service and it authorized the appointment of a commis- 
sion to observe and report upon the practical results, 
deeming these the measures most immediately needed; 
but it postponed action upon the other suggestions until 
an opportunity should be offered for a more deliberate 
consideration of them. The fourth recommendation I 
do not deem it necessary to renew. The power of the 
Interstate Commerce Commission to grant an increase of 
rates on the ground referred to is indisputably clear and 
a recommendation by the Congress with regard to such 
a matter might seem to draw in question the scope of the 
Commission's authority or its inclination to do justice 
when there is no reason to doubt either. 

The other suggestions — the increase in the Interstate 
Commerce Commission's membership and in its facilities 
for performing its manifold duties, the provision for full 
public investigation and assessment of industrial dis- 
putes, and the grant to the Executive of the power to 
control and operate the railways when necessary in time 
of war or other like public necessity — I now very ear- 
nestly renew. 

The necessity for such legislation is manifest and press- 
ing. Those who have entrusted us with the responsibility 
and duty of serving and safeguarding them in such mat- 
ters would find it hard, I believe, to excuse a failure to 



GREAT SPEECHES 139 

act upon these grave matters or any unnecessary post- 
ponement of action upon them. 

Not only does the Interstate Commerce Commission 
now find it practically impossible, with its present mem- 
bership and organization, to perform its great functions 
promptly and thoroughly, but it is not unlikely that it 
may presently be found advisable to add to its duties still 
others equally heavy and exacting. It must first be per- 
fected as an administrative instrument. 

The country cannot and should not consent to remain 
any longer exposed to profound industrial disturbances 
for lack of additional means of arbitration and concilia- 
tion which the Congress can easily and promptly supply. 
And all will agree that there must be no doubt as to the 
power of the Executive to make immediate and uninter- 
rupted use of the railroads for the concentration of the 
military forces of the nation wherever they are needed 
and whenever they are needed. 

This is a programme of regulation, prevention, and 
administrative efficiency which argues its own case in 
the mere statement of it. "With regard to one of its 
items, the increase in the efficiency of the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission, the House of Representatives has 
already acted; its action needs only the concurrence of 
the Senate. 

I would hesitate to recommend, and I dare say the 
Congress would hesitate to act upon the suggestion should 
I make it, that any man in any occupation should be 
obliged by law to continue in an employment which he 
desired to leave. To pass a law which forbade or pre- 
vented the individual workman to leave his work before 
receiving the approval of society in doing so would be to 
adopt a new principle into our jurisprudence which I 
take it for granted we are not prepared to introduce. 



140 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

But the proposal that the operation of the railways of 
the country shall not be stopped or interrupted by the 
concerted action of organized bodies of men until a public 
investigation shall have been instituted which shall make 
the whole question at issue plain for the judgment of the 
opinion of the nation is not to propose any such principle. 
It is based upon the very different principle that the con- 
certed action of powerful bodies of men shall not be per- 
mitted to stop the industrial processes of the nation, at 
any rate before the nation shall have had an opportunity 
to acquaint itself with the merits of the case as between 
employee and employer, time to form its opinion upon 
an impartial statement of the merits, and opportunity 
to consider all practicable means of conciliation or arbi- 
tration. I can see nothing in that proposition but the 
justifiable safeguarding by society of the necessary proc- 
esses of its very life. There is nothing arbitrary or 
unjust in it unless it be arbitrarily and unjustly done. 
It can and should be done with a full and scrupulous 
regard for the interests and liberties of all concerned as 
well as for the permanent interests of society itself. 

Three matters of capital importance await the action 
of the Senate which have already been acted upon by 
the House of Representatives : the bill which seeks to 
extend greater freedom of combination to those engaged 
in promoting the foreign commerce of the country than 
is now thought by some to be legal under the terms of the 
laws against monopoly; the bill amending the present 
organic law of Porto Rico ; and the bill proposing a more 
thorough and systematic regulation of the expenditure 
of money in elections, commonly called the Corrupt Prac- 
tices Act. I need not labor my advice that these meas- 
ures be enacted into law. Their urgency lies in the 
manifest circumstances which render their adoption at 



GREAT SPEECHES 141 

this time not only opportune but necessary. Even delay 
would seriously jeopard the interests of the country and 
of the government. 

Immediate passage of the bill to regulate the expend- 
iture of money in elections may seem to be less necessary 
than the immediate enactment of the other measures to 
which I refer ; because at least two years will elapse before 
another election in which federal offices are to be filled ; 
but it would greatly relieve the public mind if this im- 
portant matter were dealt with while the circumstances 
and the dangers to the public morals of the present 
method of obtaining and spending campaign funds stand 
clear under recent observation and the methods of ex- 
penditure can be frankly studied in the light of present 
experience; and a delay would have the further very 
serious disadvantage of postponing action until another 
election was at hand and some special object connected 
with it might be thought to be in the mind of those who 
urged it. Action can be taken now with facts for guid- 
ance and without suspicion of partisan purpose. 

I shall not argue at length the desirability of giving a 
freer hand in the matter of combined and concerted 
effort to those who shall undertake the essential enter- 
prise of building up our export trade. That enterprise 
will presently, will immediately assume, has indeed al- 
ready assumed, a magnitude unprecedented in our expe- 
rience. We have not the necessary instrumentalities for 
its prosecution ; it is deemed to be doubtful whether they 
could be created upon an adequate scale under our pres- 
ent laws. We should clear away all legal obstacles and 
create a basis of undoubted law for it which will give 
freedom without permitting unregulated license. The 
thing must be done now, because the opportunity is here 
and may escape us if we hesitate cr delay. 



142 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

The argument for the proposed amendments of the 
organic law of Porto Rico is brief and conclusive. The 
present laws governing the Island and regulating the 
rights and privileges of its people are not just. We have 
created expectations of extended privilege which we have 
not satisfied. There is uneasiness among the people of 
the Island and even a suspicious doubt with regard to 
our intentions concerning them which the adoption of 
the pending measure would happily remove. We do not 
doubt what we wish to do in any essential particular. We 
ought to do it at once. 

At the last session of the Congress a bill was passed 
by the Senate which provides for the promotion of voca- 
tional and industrial education which is of vital impor- 
tance to the whole country because it concerns a matter, 
too long neglected, upon which the thorough industrial 
preparation of the country for the critical years of eco- 
nomic development immediately ahead of us in very large 
measure depends. May I not urge its early and favor- 
able consideration by the House of Representatives and 
its early enactment into law? It contains plans which 
affect all interests and all parts of the country and I am 
sure that there is no legislation now pending before the 
Congress whose passage the country awaits with more 
thoughtful approval or greater impatience to see a great 
and admirable thing set in the way of being done. 

There are other matters already advanced to the stage 
of conference between the two Houses of which it is not 
necessary that I should speak. Some practicable basis of 
agreement concerning them will no doubt be found and 
action taken upon them. 

Inasmuch as this is, Gentlemen, probably the last occa- 
sion I shall have to address the Sixty-fourth Congress, 
I hope that you will permit me to say with what genuine 



GEEAT SPEECHES 143 

pleasure and satisfaction I have cooperated with you in 
the many measures of constructive policy with which you 
have enriched the legislative annals of the country. It 
has been a privilege to labor in such company. I take 
the liberty of congratulating you upon the completion of 
a record of rare serviceableness and distinction. 



144 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

LAST HOPES OF PEACE 

President Wilson's Address to the Senate of the United 
States, January 22, 1917 

Gentlemen of the Senate : 

On the eighteenth of December last I addressed an 
identic note to the governments of the nations now at war 
requesting them to state, more definitely than they had 
yet been stated by either group of belligerents, the terms 
upon which they would deem it possible to make peace. 
I spoke on behalf of humanity and of the rights of all 
neutral nations like our own, many of whose most vital 
interests the war puts in constant jeopardy. The Central 
Powers united in a reply which stated merely that they 
were ready to meet their antagonists in conference to dis- 
cuss terms of peace. The Entente Powers have replied 
much more definitely and have stated, in general terms, 
indeed, but with sufficient definiteness to imply details, 
the arrangements, guarantees, and acts of reparation 
which they deem to be the indispensable conditions of a 
satisfactory settlement. We are that much nearer a defi- 
nite discussion of the peace which shall end the present 
war. We are that much nearer the discussion of the 
international concert which must thereafter hold the 
world at peace. In every discussion of the peace that 
must end this war it is taken for granted that that peace 
must be followed by some definite concert of power which 
will make it virtually impossible that any such catas- 
trophe should ever overwhelm us again. Every lover of 
mankind, every sane and thoughtful man must take that 
for granted. 

I have sought this opportunity to address you because 
I thought that I owed it to you, as the council associated 



GREAT SPEECHES 145 

with me in the final determination of our international 
obligations, to disclose to you without reserve the thought 
and purpose that have been taking form in my mind 
in regard to the duty of our Government in the days to 
come when it will be necessary to lay afresh and upon 
a new plan the foundations of peace among the nations. 

It is inconceivable that the people of the United States 
should play no part in that great enterprise. To take 
part in such a service will be the opportunity for which 
they have sought to prepare themselves by the very prin- 
ciples and purposes of their polity and the approved 
practices of their Government ever since the days when 
they set up a new nation in the high and honorable hope 
that it might in all that it was and did show mankind 
the way to liberty. They cannot in honor withhold the 
service to which they are now about to be challenged. 
They do not wish to withhold it. But they owe it to 
themselves and to the other nations of the world to state 
the conditions under which they will feel free to render it. 

That service is nothing less than this, to add their 
authority and their power to the authority and force of 
other nations to guarantee peace and justice throughout 
the world. Such a settlement cannot now be long post- 
poned. It is right that before it comes this Government 
should frankly formulate the conditions upon which it 
would feel justified in asking our people to approve its 
formal and solemn adherence to a League for Peace. I 
am here to attempt to state those conditions. 

The present war must first be ended ; but we owe it to 
candor and to a just regard for the opinion of mankind 
to say that, so far as our participation in guarantees of 
future peace is concerned, it makes a great deal of dif- 
ference in what way and upon what terms it is ended. 
The treaties and agreements which bring it to an end 



146 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

must embody terms which will create a peace that is 
worth guaranteeing and preserving, a peace that will win 
the approval of mankind, not merely a peace that will 
serve the several interests and immediate aims of the 
nations engaged. We shall have no voice in determining 
what those terms shall be, but we shall, I feel sure, have 
a voice in determining whether they shall be made lasting 
or not by the guarantees of a universal covenant; and 
our judgment upon what is fundamental and essential as 
a condition precedent to permanency should be spoken 
now, not afterwards when it may be too late. 

No covenant of cooperative peace that does not in- 
clude the peoples of the New World can suffice to keep 
the future safe against war; and yet there is only one 
sort of peace that the peoples of America could join in 
guaranteeing. The elements of that peace must be ele- 
ments that engage the confidence and satisfy the prin- 
ciples of the American governments, elements consistent 
with their political faith and with the practical convic- 
tions which the peoples of America have once for all 
embraced and undertaken to defend. 

I do not mean to say that any American government 
would throw any obstacle in the way of any terms of 
peace the governments now at war might agree upon, or 
seek to upset them when made, whatever they might be. 
I only take it for granted that mere terms of peace be- 
tween the belligerents will not satisfy even the belligerents 
themselves. Mere agreements may not make peace secure. 
It will be absolutely necessary that a force be created 
as a guarantor of the permanency of the settlement so 
much greater than the force of any nation now engaged 
or any alliance hitherto formed or projected that no 
nation, no probable combination of nations could face or 
withstand it. If the peace presently to be made is to 



GEEAT SPEECHES 147 

endure, it must be a peace made secure by the organized 
major force of mankind. 

The terms of the immediate peace agreed upon will 
determine whether it is a peace for which such a guaran- 
tee can be secured. The question upon which the whole 
future peace and policy of the world depends is this: 
Is the present war a struggle for a just and secure peace, 
or only for a new balance of power ? If it be only a strug- 
gle for a new balance of power, who will guarantee, who 
can guarantee, the stable equilibrium of the new arrange- 
ment ? Only a tranquil Europe can be a stable Europe. 
There must be, not a balance of power, but a community 
of power ; not organized rivalries, but an organized com- 
mon peace. 

Fortunately we have received very explicit assurances 
on this point. The statesmen of both of the groups of 
nations now arrayed against one another have said, in 
terms that could not be misinterpreted, that it was no 
part of the purpose they had in mind to crush their antag- 
onists. But the implications of these assurances may 
not be equally clear to all, — may not be the same on both 
sides of the water. I think it will be serviceable if I 
attempt to set forth what we understand them to be. 

They imply, first of all, that it must be a peace without 
victory. It is not pleasant to say this. I beg that I may 
be permitted to put my own interpretation upon it and 
that it may be understood that no other interpretation 
was in my thought. I am seeking only to face realities 
and to face them without soft concealments. Victory 
would mean peace forced upon the loser, a victor's terms 
imposed upon the vanquished. It would be accepted in 
humiliation, under duress, at an intolerable sacrifice, 
and would leave a sting, a resentment, a bitter memory 
upon which terms of peace would rest, not permanently, 



148 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

but only as upon quicksand. Only a peace between equals 
can last. Only a peace the very principle of which is 
equality and a common participation in a common benefit. 
The right state of mind, the right feeling between nations, 
is as necessary for a lasting peace as is the just settlement 
of vexed questions of territory or of racial and national 
allegiance. 

The equality of nations upon which peace must be 
founded if it is to last must be an equality of rights ; the 
guarantees exchanged must neither recognize nor imply 
a difference between big nations and small, between those 
that are powerful and those that are weak. Right must 
be based upon the common strength, not upon the indi- 
vidual strength, of the nations upon whose concert peace 
will depend. Equality of territory or of resources there 
of course cannot be; nor any other sort of equality not 
gained in the ordinary peaceful and legitimate develop- 
ment of the peoples themselves. But no one asks or ex- 
pects anything more than an equality of rights. Mankind 
is looking now for freedom of life, not for equipoises of 
power. 

And there is a deeper thing involved than even equality 
of right among organized nations. No peace can last, or 
ought to last, which does not recognize and accept the 
principle that governments derive all their just powers 
from the consent of the governed, and that no right any- 
where exists to harid peoples about from sovereignty to 
sovereignty as if they were property. I take it for 
granted, for instance, if I may venture upon a single 
example, that statesmen everywhere are agreed that 
there should be a united, independent, and autonomous 
Poland, and that henceforth inviolable security of life, 
of worship, and of industrial and social development 
should be guaranteed to all peoples who have lived 



GREAT SPEECHES 149 

hitherto under the power of governments devoted to a 
faith and purpose hostile to their own. 

I speak of this, not because of any desire to exalt an 
abstract political principle which has always been held 
very dear by those who have sought to build up liberty 
in America, but for the same reason that I have spoken 
of the other conditions of peace which seem to me clearly 
indispensable, — because I wish frankly to uncover reali- 
ties. Any peace which does not recognize and accept this 
principle will inevitably be upset. It will not rest upon 
the affections or the convictions of mankind. The fer- 
ment of spirit of whole populations will fight subtly and 
constantly against it, and all the world will sympathize. 
The world can be at peace only if its life is stable, and 
there can be no stability where the will is in rebellion, 
where there is not tranquility of spirit and a sense of 
justice, of freedom, and of right. 

So far as practicable, moreover, every great people 
now struggling towards a full development of its re- 
sources and of its powers should be assured a direct outlet 
to the great highways of the sea. Where this cannot be 
done by the cession of territory, it can no doubt be done 
by the neutralization of direct rights of way under the 
general guarantee which will assure the peace itself. 
"With a right comity of arrangement no nation need be 
shut away from free access to the open paths of the 
world's commerce. 

And the paths of the sea must alike in law and in fact 
be free. The freedom of the seas is the sine qua won of 
peace, equality, and cooperation. No doubt a somewhat 
radical reconsideration of many of the rules of interna- 
tional practice hitherto thought to be established may be 
necessary in order to make the seas indeed free and com- 
mon in practically all circumstances for the use of man- 



150 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

kind, but the motive for such changes is convincing and 
compelling. There can be no trust or intimacy between 
the peoples of the world without them. The free, con- 
stant, unthreatened intercourse of nations is an essential 
part of the process of peace and of development. It need 
not be difficult either to define or to secure the freedom 
of the seas if the governments of the world sincerely 
desire to come to an agreement concerning it. 

It is a problem closely connected with the limitation 
of naval armaments and the cooperation of the navies of 
the world in keeping the seas at once free and safe. And 
the question of limiting naval armaments opens the wider 
and perhaps more difficult question of the limitation of 
armies and of all programmes of military preparation. 
Difficult and delicate as these questions are, they must 
be faced with the utmost candor and decided in a spirit 
of real accommodation if peace is to come with healing 
in its wings, and come to stay. Peace cannot be had with- 
out concession and sacrifice. There can be no sense of 
safety and equality among the nations if great prepon- 
derating armaments are henceforth to continue here and 
there to be built up and maintained. The statesmen of 
the world must plan for peace and nations must adjust 
and accommodate their policy to it as they have planned 
for war and made ready for pitiless contest and rivalry. 
The question of armaments, whether on land or sea, is the 
most immediately and intensely practical question con- 
nected with the future fortunes of nations and of man- 
kind. 

I have spoken upon these great matters without reserve 
and with the utmost explicitness because it has seemed 
to me to be necessary if the world's yearning desire for 
peace was anywhere to find free voice and utterance. 



GREAT SPEECHES 151 

Perhaps I am the only person in high authority amongst 
all the peoples of the world who is at liberty to speak and 
hold nothing back. I am speaking as an individual, and 
yet I am speaking also, of course, as the responsible head 
of a great government, and I feel confident that I have 
said what the people of the United States would wish me 
to say. May I not add that I hope and believe that I am 
in effect speaking for liberals and friends of humanity 
in every nation and of every programme of liberty? I 
would fain believe that I am speaking for the silent mass 
of mankind everywhere who have as yet had no place or 
opportunity to speak their real hearts out concerning the 
death and ruin they see to have come already upon the 
persons and the homes they hold most dear. 

And in holding out the expectation that the people and 
Government of the United States will join the other civ- 
ilized nations of the world in guaranteeing the perma- 
nence of peace upon such terms as I have named I speak 
with the greater boldness and confidence because it is 
clear to every man who can think that there is in this 
promise no breach in either our traditions or our policy 
as a nation, but a fulfilment, rather, of all that we have 
professed or striven for. I am proposing, as it were, that 
the nations should with one accord adopt the doctrine of 
President Monroe as the doctrine of the world: that no 
nation should seek to extend its polity over any other 
nation or people, but that every people should be left 
free to determine its own polity, its own way of develop- 
ment, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid, the little 
along with the great and powerful. 

I am proposing that all nations henceforth avoid en- 
tangling alliances which would draw them into compe- 
titions of power, catch them in a net of intrigue and 
selfish rivalry, and disturb their own affairs with influ- 



152 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

ences intruded from without. There is no entangling 
alliance in a concert of power. When all unite to act in 
the same sense and with the same purpose all act in the 
common interest and are free to live their own lives 
under a common protection. 

I am proposing government by the consent of the gov- 
erned; that freedom of the seas which in international 
conference after conference representatives of the United 
States have urged with the eloquence of those who are the 
convinced disciples of liberty; and that moderation of 
armaments which makes of armies and navies a power 
for order merely, not an instrument of aggression or of 
selfish violence. 

These are American principles, American policies. We 
could stand for no others. And they are also the prin- 
ciples and policies of forward looking men and women 
everywhere, of every modern nation, of every enlightened 
community. They are the principles of mankind and 
must prevail. 



GEE AT SPEECHES 153 

Letter to a Congressman 

1 ' It is incomprehensible to me how any frank or honest 
person could doubt or question my position with regard to 
the war and its objects. I have again and again stated 
the very serious and long continued wrongs which the 
imperial German Government has perpetrated against 
the rights, the commerce, and the citizens of the United 
States. The list is long and overwhelming. No nation 
that respects itself or the rights of humanity could have 
borne those wrongs any longer. 

"Our objects in going into the war have been stated 
with equal clearness. The whole of the conception which 
I take to be the conception of our fellow countrymen, with 
regard to the outcome of the war and the terms of its set- 
tlement I set forth with the utmost explicitness in an 
address to the Senate of the United States on the 22d 
of January last. Again in my message to Congress on 
the 2d of April last those objects were stated in unmis- 
takable terms. 

"I can conceive of no purpose in seeking to becloud 
this matter except the purpose of weakening the hands 
of the Government and making the part which the United 
States is to play in this great struggle for human liberty 
an inefficient and hesitating part. "We have entered 
the war for our own reasons and with our own objects 
clearly stated, and shall forget neither the reasons nor 
the objects. 

' ' There is no hate in our hearts for the German people, 
but there is a resolve which cannot be shaken even by 
misrepresentation to overcome the pretensions of the 
autocratic government which act upon purposes to which 
the German people have never consented. ' ' 

May 22, 1917. Woodrow Wilson. 



154 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BROKEN 

The President's Address to Congress, February 3, 1917 

Gentlemen of the Congress : 

The Imperial German Government on the thirty-first 
of January announced to this Government and to the 
governments of the other neutral nations that on and 
after the first day of February, the present month, it 
would adopt a policy with regard to the use of submarines 
against all shipping seeking to pass through certain desig- 
nated areas of the high seas to which it is clearly my duty 
to call your attention. 

Let me remind the Congress that on the eighteenth of 
April last, in view of the sinking on the twenty-fourth of 
March of the cross-channel passenger steamer ' ' Sussex ' ' 
by a German submarine, without summons or warning, 
and the consequent loss of the lives of several citizens 
of the United States who were passengers aboard her, 
this Government addressed a note to the Imperial German 
Government in which it made the following declaration : 

1 ' If it is still the purpose of the Imperial Government 
to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare against 
vessels of commerce by the use of submarines without 
regard to what the Government of the United States must 
consider the sacred and indisputable rules of interna- 
tional law and the universally recognized dictates of 
humanity, the Government of the United States is at last 
forced to the conclusion that there is but one course it 
can pursue. Unless the Imperial Government should 
now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of 
its present methods of submarine warfare against pas- 
senger and freight-carrying vessels, the Government of 



GEEAT SPEECHES 155 

the United States can have no choice but to sever diplo- 
matic relations with the German Empire altogether. ' ' 

In reply to this declaration the Imperial German Gov- 
ernment gave this Government the following assurance : 

' ' The German Government is prepared to do its utmost 
to confine the operations of war for the rest of its dura- 
tion to the fighting forces of the belligerents, thereby also 
insuring the freedom of the seas, a principle upon which 
the German Government believes, now as before, to be 
in agreement with the Government of the United States. 

' ' The German Government, guided by this idea, notifies 
the Government of the United States that the German 
naval forces have received the following orders: In ac- 
cordance with the general principles of visit and search 
and destruction of merchant vessels recognized by inter- 
national law, such vessels, both within and without the 
area declared as naval war zone, shall not be sunk with- 
out warning and without saving human lives, unless these 
ships attempt to escape or offer resistance. 

"But," it added, "neutrals can not expect that Ger- 
many, forced to fight for her existence, shall, for the 
sake of neutral interest, restrict the use of an effective 
weapon if her enemy is permitted to continue to apply 
at will methods of warfare violating the rules of inter- 
national law. Such a demand would be incompatible with 
the character of neutrality, and the German Government 
is convinced that the Government of the United States 
does not think of making such a demand, knowing that 
the Government of the United States has repeatedly 
declared that it is determined to restore the principle 
of the freedom of the seas, from whatever quarter it has 
been violated." 



156 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

To this the Government of the United States replied on 
the eighth of May, accepting, of course, the assurances 
given, but adding, 

"The Government of the United States feels it neces- 
sary to state that it takes it for granted that the Imperial 
German Government does not intend to imply that the 
maintenance of its newly announced policy is in any way 
contingent upon the course or result of diplomatic nego- 
tiations between the Government of the United States and 
any other belligerent Government, notwithstanding the 
fact that certain passages in the Imperial Government's 
note of the 4th instant might appear to be susceptible of 
that construction. In order, however, to avoid any pos- 
sible misunderstanding, the Government of the United 
States notifies the Imperial Government that it can not 
for a moment entertain, much less discuss, a suggestion 
that respect by German naval authorities for the rights 
of citizens of the United States upon the high seas should 
in any way or in the slightest degree be made contingent 
upon the conduct of any other Government affecting the 
rights of neutrals and noncombatants. Responsibility in 
such matters is single, not joint; absolute, not relative." 

To this note of the eighth of May the Imperial German 
Government made no reply. 

On the thirty-first of January, the Wednesday of the 
present week, the German Ambassador handed to the 
Secretary of State, along with a formal note, a memo- 
randum which contains the following statement : 

"The Imperial Government, therefore, does not doubt 
that the Government of the United States will understand 
the situation thus forced upon Germany by the Entente 
Allies ' brutal methods of war and by their determination 



GREAT SPEECHES 157 

to destroy the Central Powers, and that the Government 
of the United States will further realize that the now 
openly disclosed intentions of the Entente Allies give back 
to Germany the freedom of action which she reserved in 
her note addressed to the Government of the United 
States on May 4, 1916. 

"Under these circumstances Germany will meet the 
illegal measures of her enemies by forcibly preventing 
after February 1, 1917, in a zone around Great Britain, 
France, Italy, and in the Eastern Mediterranean all nav- 
igation, that of neutrals included, from and to England 
and from and to France, etc., etc. All ships met within 
the zone will be sunk. ' ' 

I think that you will agree with me that, in view of 
this declaration, which suddenly and without prior inti- 
mation of any kind deliberately withdraws the solemn 
assurance given in the Imperial Government's note of 
the fourth of May, 1916, this Government has no alter- 
native consistent with the dignity and honor of the United 
States but to take the course which, in its note of the 
eighteenth of April, 1916, it announced that it would take 
in the event that the German Government did not declare 
and effect an abandonment of the methods of submarine 
warfare which it was then employing and to which it now 
purposes again to resort. 

I have, therefore, directed the Secretary of State to 
announce to His Excellency the German Ambassador that 
all diplomatic relations between the United States and 
the German Empire are severed, and that the American 
Ambassador at Berlin will immediately be withdrawn; 
and, in accordance with this decision, to hand to His 
Excellency his passports. 

Notwithstanding this unexpected action of the Ger- 



158 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

man Government, this sudden and deeply deplorable 
renunciation of its assurances, given this Government at 
one of the most critical moments of tension in the rela- 
tions of the two governments, I refuse to believe that it is 
the intention of the German authorities to do in fact what 
they have warned us they will feel at liberty to do. I 
cannot bring myself to believe that they will indeed pay 
no regard to the ancient friendship between their people 
and our own or to the solemn obligations which have been 
exchanged between them and destroy American ships and 
take the lives of American citizens in the wilful prosecu- 
tion of the ruthless naval programme they have an- 
nounced their intention to adopt. Only actual overt acts 
on their part can make me believe it even now. 

If this inveterate confidence on my part in the sobriety 
and prudent foresight of their purpose should unhappily 
prove unfounded ; if American ships and American lives 
should in fact be sacrificed by their naval commanders 
in heedless contravention of the just and reasonable un- 
derstandings of international law and the obvious dictates 
of humanity, I shall take the liberty of coming again 
before the Congress to ask that authority be given me to 
use any means that may be necessary for the protection 
of our seamen and our people in the prosecution of their 
peaceful and legitimate errands on the high seas. I can 
do nothing less. I take it for granted that all neutral gov- 
ernments will take the same course. 

We do not desire any hostile conflict with the Imperial 
German Government. "We are the sincere friends of the 
German people and earnestly desire to remain at peace 
with the Government which speaks for them. We shall 
not believe that they are hostile to us unless and until we 
are obliged to believe it; and we purpose nothing more 
than the reasonable defense of the undoubted rights of our 



GREAT SPEECHES 159 

people. "We wish to serve no selfish ends. We seek merely 
to stand true alike in thought and in action to the imme- 
morial principles of our people which I sought to express 
in my address to the Senate only two weeks ago, — seek 
merely to vindicate our right to liberty and justice and 
an unmolested life. These are the bases of peace, not 
war. God grant we may not be challenged to defend them 
by acts of wilful injustice on the part of the Government 
of Germany ! 



160 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

THE WAR CLOUDS THICKEN 

Mr. Wilson's Address to Congress, February 26, 1917 
Asking Power to Arm Ships 

Gentlemen of the Congress : 

I have again asked the privilege of addressing you 
because we are moving through critical times during 
which it seems to me to be my duty to keep in close touch 
with the Houses of Congress, so that neither counsel nor 
action shall run at cross purposes between us. 

On the third of February I officially informed you of 
the sudden and unexpected action of the Imperial Ger- 
man Government in declaring its intention to disregard 
the promises it had made to this Government in April last 
and undertake immediate submarine operations against 
all commerce, whether of belligerents or of neutrals, that 
should seek to approach Great Britain and Ireland, the 
Atlantic coasts of Europe, or the harbors of the eastern 
Mediterranean, and to conduct those operations without 
regard to the established restrictions of international 
practice, without regard to any considerations of human- 
ity even which might interfere with their object. That 
policy was forthwith put into practice. It has now been 
in active execution for nearly four weeks. 

Its practical results are not yet fully disclosed. The 
commerce of other neutral nations is suffering severely, 
but not, perhaps, very much more severely than it was 
already suffering before the first of February, when the 
new policy of the Imperial Government was put into 
operation. "We have asked the cooperation of the other 
neutral governments to prevent these depredations, but so 
far none of them has thought it wise to join us in any 
common course of action. Our own commerce has suf- 



GREAT SPEECHES 161 

fered, is suffering, rather in apprehension than in fact, 
rather because so many of our ships are timidly keeping 
to their home ports than because American ships have 
been sunk. 

Two American vessels have been sunk, the Housatonic 
and the Lyman M. Law. The case of the Housatonic, 
which was carrying foodstuffs consigned to a London firm, 
was essentially like the case of the Frye, in which, it will 
be recalled, the German Government admitted its liability 
for damages, and the lives of the crew, as in the case of the 
Frye, were safeguarded with reasonable care. The case 
of the Law, which was carrying lemon-box staves to 
Palermo, disclosed a ruthlessness of method which de- 
serves grave condemnation, but was accompanied by no 
circumstances which might not have been expected at 
any time in connection with the use of the submarine 
against merchantmen as the German Government has 
used it. 

In sum, therefore, the situation we find ourselves in 
with regard to the actual conduct of the German sub- 
marine warfare against commerce and its effects upon our 
own ships and people is substantially the same that it 
was when I addressed you on the third of February, 
except for the tying up of our shipping in our own ports 
because of the unwillingness of our shipowners to risk 
their vessels at sea without insurance or adequate protec- 
tion, and the very serious congestion of our commerce 
which has resulted, a congestion which is growing rapidly 
more and more serious every day. This in itself might 
presently accomplish, in effect, what the new German sub- 
marine orders were meant to accomplish, so far as we 
are concerned. We can only say, therefore, that the overt 
act which I have ventured to hope the German command- 
ers would in fact avoid has not occurred. 



162 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

But, while this is happily true, it must be admitted that 
there have been certain additional indications and expres- 
sions of purpose on the part of the German press and the 
German authorities which have increased rather than 
lessened the impression that, if our ships and our people 
are spared, it will be because of fortunate circumstances 
or because the commanders of the German submarines 
which they may happen to encounter exercise an unex- 
pected discretion and restraint rather than because of the 
instructions under which those commanders are acting. 
It would be foolish to deny that the situation is fraught 
with the gravest possibilities and dangers. No thought- 
ful man can fail to see that the necessity for definite 
action may come at any time, if we are in fact, and not 
in word merely, to defend our elementary rights as a 
neutral nation. It would be most imprudent to be 
unprepared. 

I cannot in such circumstances be unmindful of the 
fact that the expiration of the term of the present Con- 
gresses immediately at hand, by constitutional limitation ; 
and that it would in all likelihood require an unusual 
length of time to assemble and organize the Congress 
which is to succeed it. I feel that I ought, in view of 
that fact, to obtain from you full and immediate assurance 
of the authority which I may need at any moment to exer- 
cise. No doubt I already possess that authority without 
special warrant of law, by the plain implication of my 
constitutional duties and powers; but I prefer, in the 
present circumstances, not to act upon general implica- 
tion. I wish to feel that the authority and the power of 
the Congress are behind me in whatever it may become 
necessary for me to do. We are jointly the servants of the 
people and must act together and in their spirit, so far 
as we can divine and interpret it. 



GEEAT SPEECHES 163 

No one doubts what it is our duty to do. We must 
defend our commerce and the lives of our people in the 
midst of the present trying circumstances, with discretion 
but with clear and steadfast purpose. Only the method 
and the extent remain to be chosen, upon the occasion, 
if occasion should indeed arise. Since it has unhappily 
proved impossible to safeguard our neutral rights by 
diplomatic means against the unwarranted infringements 
they are suffering at the hands of Germany, there may 
be no recourse but to armed neutrality, which we shall 
know how to maintain and for which there is abundant 
American precedent. 

It is devoutly to be hoped that it will not be necessary 
to put armed force anywhere into action. The American 
people do not desire it, and our desire is not different 
from theirs. I am sure that they will understand the 
spirit in which I am now acting, the purpose I hold near- 
est my heart and would wish to exhibit in everything I do. 
I am anxious that the people of the nations at war also 
should understand and not mistrust us. I hope that I 
need give no further proofs and assurances than I have 
already given throughout nearly three years of anxious 
patience that I am the friend of peace and mean to pre- 
serve it for America so long as I am able. I am not now 
proposing or contemplating war or any steps that need 
lead to it. I merely request that you will accord me by 
your own vote and definite bestowal the means and the 
authority to safeguard in practice the right of a great 
people who are at peace and who are desirous of exercis- 
ing none but the rights of peace to follow the pursuits 
of peace in quietness and good will, — rights recognized 
time out of mind by all the civilized nations of the world. 
No course of my choosing or of theirs will lead to war. "War 
can come only by the wilful acts and aggressions of others. 



164 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

You will understand why I can make no definite pro- 
posals or forecasts of action now and must ask for your 
supporting authority in the most general terms. The 
form in which action may become necessary cannot yet 
be foreseen. I believe that the people will be willing to 
trust me to act with restraint, with prudence, and in the 
true spirit of amity and good faith that they have them- 
selves displayed throughout these trying months; and 
it is in that belief that I request that you will authorize 
me to supply our merchant ships with defensive arms, 
should that become necessary, and with the means of 
using them, and to employ any other instrumentalities 
or methods that may be necessary and adequate to protect 
our ships and our people in their legitimate and peace- 
ful pursuits on the seas. I request also that you will grant 
me at the same time, along with the powers I ask, a suffi- 
cient credit to enable me to provide adequate means of 
protection where they are lacking, including adequate 
insurance against the present war risks. 

I have spoken of our commerce and of the legitimate 
errands of our people on the seas, but you will not be mis- 
led as to my main thought, the thought that lies beneath 
these phrases and gives them dignity and weight. It is 
not of material interests merely that we are thinking. It 
is, rather, of fundamental human rights, chief of all the 
right of life itself. I am thinking, not only of the rights 
of Americans to go and come about their proper business 
by way of the sea, but also of something much deeper, 
much more fundamental than that. I am thinking of 
those rights of humanity without which there is no civili- 
zation. My theme is of those great principles of com- 
passion and of protection which mankind has sought to 
throw about human lives, the lives of noncombatants, the 
lives of men who are peacefully at work keeping the indus- 



GREAT SPEECHES 165 

trial processes of the world quick and vital, the lives of 
women and children and of those who supply the labor 
which ministers to their sustenance. We are speaking 
of no selfish material rights but of rights which our hearts 
support and whose foundation is that righteous passion 
for justice upon which all law, all structures alike of 
family, of state, and of mankind must rest, as upon the 
ultimate base of our existence and our liberty. I can- 
not imagine any man with American principles at his 
heart hesitating to defend these things. 



166 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1917 

[The date of Mr. Wilson's second accession to the Presidency 
of the United States, March 4, 1917, falling on a Sunday, he took 
the oath of office privately on that day, and delivered his inaugural 
address next day, March 5, in the presence of an immense throng 
gathered outside the Capitol at Washington, as follows:] 

My Fellow-Citizens : 

The four years which have elapsed since last I stood 
in this place have been crowded with counsel and action 
of the most vital interest and consequence. Perhaps no 
equal period in our history has been so fruitful of im- 
portant reforms in our economic and industrial life or 
so full of significant changes in the spirit and purpose 
of our political action. We have sought very thought- 
fully to set our house in order, correct the grosser errors 
and abuses of our industrial life, liberate and quicken the 
processes of our national genius and energy, and lift 
our politics to a broader view of the people's essential 
interests. It is a record of singular variety and singular 
distinction. But I shall not attempt to review it. It 
speaks for itself and will be of increasing influence as the 
years go by. This is not the time for retrospect. It is 
time, rather, to speak our thoughts and purposes concern- 
ing the present and the immediate future. 

Although we have centered counsel and action with 
such unusual concentration and success upon the great 
problems of domestic legislation to which we addressed 
ourselves four years ago, other matters have more and 
more forced themselves upon our attention, matters lying 
outside our own life as a nation and over which we had 
no control, but which, despite our wish to keep free of 
them, have drawn us more and more irresistibly into 
their own current and influence. 

It has been impossible to avoid them. They have 



GREAT SPEECHES 167 

affected the life of the whole world. They have shaken 
men everywhere with a passion and an apprehension they 
never knew before. It has been hard to preserve calm 
counsel while the thought of our own people swayed this 
way and that under their influence. We are, a composite 
and cosmopolitan people. We are of the blood of all the 
nations that are at war. The currents of our thoughts 
as well as the currents of our trade run quick at all sea- 
sons back and forth between us and them. The war 
inevitably set its mark from the first alike upon our 
minds, our industries, our commerce, our politics, and 
our social action. To be indifferent to it or independent 
of it was out of the question. 

And yet all the while we have been conscious that we 
were not part of it. In that consciousness, despite many 
divisions, we have drawn closer together. We have been 
deeply wronged upon the seas, but we have not wished to 
wrong or injure in return ; have retained throughout the 
consciousness of standing in some sort apart, intent upon 
an interest that transcended the immediate issues of the 
war itself. As some of the injuries done us have become 
intolerable we have still been clear that we wished nothing 
for ourselves that we were not ready to demand for all 
mankind, — fair dealing, justice, the freedom to live and 
be at ease against organized wrong. 

It is in this spirit and with this thought that we have 
grown more and more aware, more and more certain that 
the part we wished to play was the part of those who 
mean to vindicate and fortify peace. We have been 
obliged to arm ourselves to make good our claim to a 
certain minimum of right and of freedom of action. We 
stand firm in armed neutrality since it seems that in no 
other way we can demonstrate what it is we insist upon 
and cannot forego. We may even be drawn on, by cir- 



168 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

cumstances, not by our own purpose or desire, to a more 
active assertion of our rights as we see them and a more 
immediate association with the great struggle itself. But 
nothing will alter our thought or our purpose. They are 
too clear to be obscured. They are too deeply rooted in 
the principles of our national life to be altered. "We 
desire neither conquest nor advantage. We wish nothing 
that can be had only at the cost of another people. We 
have always professed unselfish purpose and we covet the 
opportunity to prove that our professions are sincere. 

There are many things still to do at home, to clarify 
our own politics and give new vitality to the industrial 
processes of our own life, and we shall do them as time 
and opportunity serve ; but we realize that the greatest 
things that remain to be done must be done with the whole 
world for stage and in cooperation with the wide and uni- 
versal forces of mankind, and we are making our spirits 
ready for those things. They will follow in the immediate 
wake of the war itself and will set civilization up again. 
We are provincials no longer. The tragical events of the 
thirty months of vital turmoil through which we have 
just passed have made us citizens of the world. There 
can be no turning back. Our own fortunes as a nation 
are involved, whether we would have it so or not. 

And yet we are not the less Americans on that account. 
We shall be the more American if we but remain true to 
the principles in which we have been bred. They are not 
the principles of a province or of a single continent. We 
have known and boasted all along that they were the 
principles of a liberated mankind. These, therefore, are 
the things we shall stand for, whether in war or in peace : 

That all nations are equally interested in the peace of 
the world and in the political stability of free peoples, 
and equally responsible for their maintenance; 



GREAT SPEECHES 139 

That the essential principle of peace is the actual equal- 
ity of nations in all matters of right or privilege ; 

That peace cannot securely or justly rest upon an 
armed balance of power; 

That governments derive all their just powers from the 
eonsent of the governed and that no other powers should 
be supported by the common thought, purpose, or power 
of the family of nations ; 

That the seas should be equally free and safe for the 
use of all peoples, under rules set up by common agree- 
ment and consent, and that, so far as practicable, they 
should be accessible to all upon equal terms ; 

That national armaments should be limited to the neces- 
sities of national order and domestic safety; 

That the community of interest and of power upon 
which peace must henceforth depend imposes upon each 
nation the duty of seeing to it that all influences proceed- 
ing from its own citizens meant to encourage or assist 
revolution in other states should be sternly and effectually 
suppressed and prevented. 

I need not argue these principles to you, my fellow- 
countrymen : they are your own, part and parcel of your 
own thinking and your own motive in affairs. They 
spring up native amongst us. Upon this as a platform 
of purpose and of action we can stand together. 

And it is imperative that we should stand together. 
We are being forged into a new unity amidst the fires that 
now blaze throughout the world. In their ardent heat 
we shall, in God's providence, let us hope, be purged of 
faction and division, purified of the errant humors of 
party and of private interest, and shall stand forth in the 
days to come with a new dignity of national pride and 
spirit. Let each man see to it that the dedication is in his 



170 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

own heart, the high purpose of the Nation in his own 
mind, ruler of his own will and desire. 

I stand here and have taken the high and solemn oath 
to which you have been audience because the people of 
the United States have chosen me for this august dele- 
gation of power and have by their gracious judgment 
named me their leader in affairs. I know now what the 
task means. I realize to the full the responsibility which 
it involves. I pray God I may be given the wisdom and 
the prudence to do my duty in the true spirit of this 
great people. I am their servant and can succeed only 
as they sustain and guide me by their confidence and 
their counsel. The thing I shall count upon, the thing 
without which neither counsel nor action will avail, is the 
unity of America, — an America united in feeling, in 
purpose, and in its vision of duty, of opportunity, and 
of service. We are to beware of all men who would turn 
the tasks and the necessities of the Nation to their own 
private profit or use them for the building up of private 
power ; beware that no faction or disloyal intrigue break 
the harmony or embarrass the spirit of our people ; beware 
that our Government be kept pure and incorrupt in all 
its parts. United alike in the conception of our duty 
and in the high resolve to perform it in the face of all 
men, let us dedicate ourselves to the great task to which 
we must now set our hand. For myself I beg your toler- 
ance, your countenance, and your united aid. The shad- 
ows that now lie dark upon our path will soon be dis- 
pelled and we shall walk with the light all about us if 
we be but true to ourselves, — to ourselves as we have 
wished to be known in the counsels of the world and in 
the thought of all those who love liberty and justice and 
the right exalted. 



GKEAT SPEECHES 171 

ADVICE TO NEW CITIZENS 

The President's Address to Newly Naturalized Ameri- 
cans, Philadelphia, May 10, 1915 

Mr. Mayor, Fellow Citizens : 

It warms my heart that you should give me such a 
reception; but it is not of myself that I wish to think 
tonight, but of those who have just become citizens of the 
United States. 

This is the only country in the world which experiences 
this constant and repeated rebirth. Other countries de- 
pend upon the multiplication of their own native people. 
This country is constantly drinking strength out of new 
sources by the voluntary association with it of great 
bodies of strong men and forward-looking women out of 
other lands. And so by the gift of the free will of inde- 
pendent people it is being constantly renewed from gen- 
eration to generation by the same process by which it was 
originally created. It is as if humanity had determined 
to see to it that this great Nation, founded for the benefit 
of humanity, should not lack for the allegiance of the 
people of the world. 

You have just taken an oath of allegiance to the United 
States. Of allegiance to whom ? Of allegiance to no one, 
unless it be God — certainly not of allegiance to those who 
temporarily represent this great Government. You have 
taken an oath of allegiance to a great ideal, to a great 
body of principles, to a great hope of the human race. 
You have said, "We are going to America not only to 
earn a living, not only to seek the things which it was 
more difficult to obtain where we were born, but to help 
forward the great enterprises of the human spirit — to 
let men know that everywhere in the world there are men 



172 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

who will cross strange oceans and go where a speech is 
spoken which is alien to them if they can but satisfy their 
quest for what their spirits crave; knowing that what- 
ever the speech there is but one longing and utterance 
of the human heart, and that is for liberty and justice." 
And while you bring all countries with you, you come 
with a purpose of leaving all other countries behind you 
— bringing what is best of their spirit, but not looking 
over your shoulders and seeking to perpetuate what you 
intended to leave behind in them. I certainly would not 
be one even to suggest that a man cease to love the home 
of his birth and the nation of his origin — these things 
are very sacred and ought not to be put out of our hearts 
— but it is one thing to love the place where you were 
born and it is another thing to dedicate yourself to the 
place to which you go. You can not dedicate yourself to 
America unless you become in every respect and with 
every purpose of your will thorough Americans. You 
can not become thorough Americans if you think of your- 
selves in groups. America does not consist of groups. A 
man who thinks of himself as belonging to a particular 
national group in America has not yet become an Ameri- 
can, and the man who goes among you to trade upon your 
nationality is no worthy son to live under the Stars and 
Stripes. 

My urgent advice to you would be, not only always to 
think first of America, but always, also, to think first of 
humanity. You do not love humanity if you seek to 
divide humanity into jealous camps. Humanity can be 
welded together only by love, by sympathy, by justice, not 
by jealousy and hatred. I am sorry for the man who seeks 
to make personal capital out of the passions of his fellow- 
men. He has lost the touch and ideal of America, for 
America was created to unite mankind by those passions 



GREAT SPEECHES 173 

which lift and not by the passions which separate and 
debase. "We came to America, either ourselves or in the 
persons of our ancestors, to better the ideals of men, to 
make them see finer things than they had seen before, 
to get rid of the things that divide and to make sure of 
the things that unite. It was but an historical accident no 
doubt that this great country was called the ''United 
States"; yet I am very thankful that it has that word 
"United" in its title, and the man who seeks to divide 
man from man, group from group, interest from interest 
in this great Union is striking at its very heart. 

It is a very interesting circumstance to me, in thinking 
of those of you who have just sworn allegiance to this 
great Government, that you were drawn across the ocean 
by some beckoning finger of hope, by some belief, by some 
vision of a new kind of justice, by some expectation of a 
better kind of life. No doubt you have been disappointed 
in some of us. Some of us are very disappointing. No 
doubt you have found that justice in the United States 
goes only with a pure heart and a right purpose as it does 
everywhere else in the world. No doubt what you found 
here did not seem touched for you, after all, with the 
complete beauty of the ideal which you had conceived 
beforehand. But remember this: If we had grown at 
all poor in the ideal, you brought some of it with you. 
A man does not go out to seek the thing that is not in 
him. A man does not hope for the thing that he does not 
believe in, and if some of us have forgotten what America 
believed in, you, at any rate, imported in your own hearts 
a renewal of the belief. That is the reason that I, for 
one, make you welcome. If I have in any degree for- 
gotten what America was intended for, I will thank God 
if you will remind me. I was born in America. You 
dreamed dreams of what America was to be, and I hope 



174 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

you brought the dreams with you. No man that does not 
see visions will ever realize any high hope or undertake 
any high enterprise. Just because you brought dreams 
with you, America is more likely to realize dreams such 
as you brought. You are enriching us if you came ex- 
pecting us to be better than we are. 

See, my friends, what that means. It means that 
Americans must have a consciousness different from the 
consciousness of every other nation in the world. I am 
not saying this with even the slightest thought of criti- 
cism of other nations. You know how it is with a family. 
A family gets centered on itself if it is not careful and is 
less interested in the neighbors than it is in its own mem- 
bers. So a nation that is not constantly renewed out of 
new sources is apt to have the narrowness and prejudice 
of a family ; whereas, America must have this conscious- 
ness, that on all sides it touches elbows and touches hearts 
with all the nations of mankind. The example of Amer- 
ica must be a special example. The example of America 
must be the example not merely of peace because it will 
not fight, but of peace because peace is the healing and 
elevating influence of the world and strife is not. There 
is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There 
is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not 
need to convince others by force that it is right. 

You have come into this great Nation voluntarily seek- 
ing something that we have to give, and all that we have 
to give is this : We can not exempt you from work. No 
man is exempt from work anywhere in the world. We 
can not exempt you from the strife and the heartbreak- 
ing burden of the struggle of the day — that is common to 
mankind everywhere ; we can not exempt you from the 
loads that you must carry. We can only make them light 
by the spirit in which they are carried. That is the 



GREAT SPEECHES 1?5 

juste^ h0P6 ' h ™ thG SPirft ° f Hbert7 ' * " the Spirit 0f 
When I was asked, therefore, by the Mayor and the 
committee that accompanied him to come up from Wash- 
mgton to meet this great company of newly admitted 
citizens, I could not decline the invitation. I ought not 
to be away from Washington, and yet I feel that it has 
renewed my spirit as an American to be here. In Wash- 
ington men tdl you so many things every day that are not 
so and I like to come and stand in the presence of a great 
body of my fellow-citizens, whether they have been my 
fellow-citizens a long time or a short time, and drink, as 
it were, out of the common fountains with them and go 
back feeling what you have so generously given me-the 
sense of your support and of the living vitality in your 
hearts of the great ideals which have made America the 
hope of the world. 



176 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

FIRST ADDRESS TO CONGRESS 

Delivered at a Joint Session of the Two Houses, 
April 8, 1913 

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Con- 
gress: 

I am very glad indeed to have this opportunity to ad- 
dress the two Houses directly and to verify for myself 
the impression that the President of the United States is 
a person, not a mere department of the Government hail- 
ing Congress from some isolated island of jealous power, 
sending messages, not speaking naturally and with his 
own voice — that he is a human being trying to co-oper- 
ate with other human beings in a common service. 
After this pleasant experience I shall feel quite normal 
in all our dealings with one another. 

I have called the Congress together in extraordinary 
session because a duty was laid upon the party now in 
power at the recent elections which it ought to perform 
promptly, in order that the burden carried by the people 
under existing law may be lightened as soon as possible 
and in order, also, that the business interests of the 
country may not be kept too long in suspense as to what 
the fiscal changes are to be to which they will be re- 
quired to adjust themselves. It is clear to the whole 
country that the tariff duties must be altered. They 
must be changed to meet the radical alteration in the 
conditions of our economic life which the country has 
witnessed within the last generation. While the whole 
face and method of our industrial and commercial life 
were being changed beyond recognition the tariff sched- 
ules have remained what they were before the change 
began, or have moved in the direction they were given 



GREAT SPEECHES 177 

when no large circumstance of our industrial develop- 
ment was what it is to-day. Our task is to square them 
with the actual facts. The sooner that is done the sooner 
we shall escape from suffering from the facts and the 
sooner our men of business will be free to thrive by the 
law of nature (the nature of free business) instead of 
by the law of legislation and artificial arrangement. 

We have seen tariff legislation wander very far afield 
in our day — very far indeed from the field in which our 
prosperity might have had a normal growth and stimula- 
tion. No one who looks the facts squarely in the face 
or knows anything that lies beneath the surface of action 
can fail to perceive the principles upon which recent 
tariff legislation has been based. We long ago passed 
beyond the modest notion of "protecting" the industries 
of the country and moved boldly forward to the idea that 
they were entitled to the direct patronage of the Govern- 
ment. For a long time — a time so long that the men now 
active in public policy hardly remember the conditions 
that preceded it — we have sought in our tariff schedules 
to give each group of manufacturers or producers what 
they themselves thought that they needed in order to 
maintain a practically exclusive market as against the 
rest of the world. Consciously or unconsciously, we have 
built up a set of privileges and exemptions from competi- 
tion behind which it was easy by any, even the crudest, 
forms of combination to organize monopoly ; until at last 
nothing is normal, nothing is obliged to stand the tests of 
efficiency and economy, in our world of big business, but 
everything thrives by concerted arrangement. Only 
new principles of action will save us from a final hard 
crystallization of monopoly and a complete loss of the 
influences that quicken enterprise and keep independent 
energy alive. 



178 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

It is plain what those principles must be. "We must 
abolish everything that bears even the semblance of privi- 
lege or of any kind of artificial advantage, and put our 
business men and producers under the stimulation of a 
constant necessity to be efficient, economical, and enter- 
prising, masters of competitive supremacy, better work- 
ers and merchants than any in the world. Aside from the 
duties laid upon articles which we do not, and probably 
can not, produce, therefore, and the duties laid upon 
luxuries and merely for the sake of the revenues they 
yield, the object of the tariff duties henceforth laid must 
be effective competition, the whetting of American wits by 
contest with the wits of the rest of the world. 

It would be unwise to move toward this end headlong, 
with reckless haste, or with strokes that cut at the very 
root of what has grown up amongst us by long process 
and at our own invitation. It does not alter a thing to 
upset it and break it and deprive it of a chance to change. 
It destroys it. We must make changes in our fiscal laws, 
in our fiscal system, whose object is development, a more 
free and wholesome development, not revolution or upset 
or confusion. We must build up trade, especially foreign 
trade. We need the outlet and the enlarged field of 
energy more than we ever did before. We must build 
up industry as well, and must adopt freedom in the place 
of artificial stimulation only so far as it will build, not 
pull down. In dealing with the tariff the method by 
which this may be done will be a matter of judgment, 
exercised item by item. To some not accustomed to the 
excitements and responsibilities of greater freedom our 
methods may in some respects and at some points seem 
heroic, but remedies may be heroic and yet be remedies. 
It is our business to make sure that they are genuine 
remedies. Our object is clear. If our motive is above 



GEEAT SPEECHES 179 

just challenge and only occasional error of judgment is 
chargeable against us, we shall be fortunate. 

We are called upon to render the country a great serv- 
ice in more matters than one. Our responsibility should 
be met and our methods should be thorough, as thorough 
as moderate and well considered, based upon the facts 
as they are, and not worked out as if we were beginners. 
We are to deal with the facts of our own day, with the 
facts of no other, and to make laws which square with 
those facts. It is best, indeed it is necessary, to begin with 
the tariff. I will urge nothing upon you now at the open- 
ing of your session which can obscure that first object 
or divert our energies from that clearly defined duty. At 
a later time I may take the liberty of calling your atten- 
tion to reforms which should press close upon the heels 
of the tariff changes, if not accompany them, of which 
the chief is the reform of our banking and currency laws ; 
but just now I refrain. For the present, I put these mat- 
ters on one side and think only of this one thing — of 
the changes in our fiscal system which may best serve to 
open once more the free channels of prosperity to a great 
people whom we would serve to the utmost and throughout 
both rank and file. 

I thank you for your courtesy. 



180 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

Delivered by President Wilson at the Capitol, 
March 4, 1913 

There has been a change of government. It began two 
years ago, when the House of Representatives became 
Democratic by a decisive majority. It has now been com- 
pleted. The Senate about to assemble will also be Demo- 
cratic. The offices of President and Vice President have 
been put into the hands of Democrats. What does the 
change mean ? That is the question that is uppermost in 
our minds to-day. That is the question I am going to try 
to answer, in order, if I may, to interpret the occasion. 

It means much more than the mere success of a party. 
The success of a party means little except when the 
Nation is using that party for a large and definite pur- 
pose. No one can mistake the purpose for which the 
Nation now seeks to use the Democratic Party. It seeks 
to use it to interpret a change in its own plans and point 
of view. Some old things with which we had grown 
familiar, and which had begun to creep into the very 
habit of our thought and of our lives, have altered their 
aspect as we have latterly looked critically upon them, 
with fresh, awakened eyes ; have dropped their disguises 
and shown themselves alien and sinister. Some new 
things, as we look frankly upon them, willing to compre- 
hend their real character, have come to assume the aspect 
of things long believed in and familiar, stuff of our own 
convictions. We have been refreshed by a new insight 
into our own life. 

We see that in many things that life is very great. It is 
incomparably great in its material aspects, in its body of 
wealth, in the diversity and sweep of its energy, in the 



GEEAT SPEECHES 181 

industries which have been conceived and built up by the 
genius of individual men and the limitless enterprise of 
groups of men. It is great, also, very great, in its moral 
force. Nowhere else in the world have noble men and 
women exhibited in more striking forms the beauty and 
the energy of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in 
their efforts to rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set 
the weak in the way of strength and hope. We have 
built up, moreover, a great system of government, which 
has stood through a long age as in many respects a model 
for those who seek to set liberty upon foundations that 
will endure against fortuitous change, against storm and 
accident. Our life contains every great thing, and con- 
tains it in rich abundance. 

But the evil has come with the good, and much fine gold 
has been corroded. With riches has come inexcusable 
waste. We have squandered a great part of what we 
might have used, and have not stopped to conserve the 
exceeding bounty of nature, without which our genius 
for enterprise would have been worthless and impotent, 
scorning to be careful, shamefully prodigal as well as 
admirably efficient. We have been proud of our indus- 
trial achievements, but we have not hitherto stopped 
thoughtfully enough to count the human cost, the cost of 
lives snuffed out, of energies overtaxed and broken, the 
fearful physical and spiritual cost to the men and women 
and children upon whom the dead weight and burden of it 
all has fallen pitilessly the years through. The groans 
and agony of it all had not yet reached our ears, the 
solemn, moving undertone of our life, coming up out of 
the mines and factories and out of every home where the 
struggle had its intimate and familiar seat. With the 
great Government went many deep secret things which we 
too long delayed to look into and scrutinize with candid, 



182 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

fearless eyes. The great Government we loved has too 
often been made use of for private and selfish purposes, 
and those who used it had forgotten the people. 

At last a vision has been vouchsafed us of our life as 
a whole. We see the bad with the good, the debased and 
decadent with the sound and vital. With this vision 
we approach new affairs. Our duty is to cleanse, to 
reconsider, to restore, to correct the evil without impair- 
ing the good, to purify and humanize every process of 
our common life without weakening or sentimentalizing 
it. There has been something crude and heartless and 
unfeeling in our haste to succeed and be great. Our 
thought has been "Let every man look out for himself, 
let every generation look out for itself, ' ' while we reared 
giant machinery which made it impossible that any but 
those who stood at the levers of control should have a 
chance to look out for themselves. We had not forgotten 
our morals. We remembered well enough that we had 
set up a policy which was meant to serve the humblest as 
well as the most powerful, with an eye single to the stand- 
ards of justice and fair play, and remembered it with 
pride. But we were very heedless and in a hurry to be 
great. 

We have come now to the sober second thought. The 
scales of heedlessness have fallen from our eyes. We 
have made up our minds to square every process of our 
national life again with the standards we so proudly set 
up at the beginning and have always carried at our hearts. 
Our work is a work of restoration. 

We have itemized with some degree of particularity 
the things that ought to be altered and here are some 
of the chief items : A tariff which cuts us off from our 
proper part in the commerce of the world, violates the 
just principles of taxation, and makes the Government 



GREAT SPEECHES 1S3 

a facile instrument in the hands of private interests; a 
banking and currency system based upon the necessity 
of the Government to sell its bonds fifty years ago and 
perfectly adapted to concentrating cash and restrict- 
ing credits ; an industrial system which, take it on all its 
sides, financial as well as administrative, holds capital in 
leading strings, restricts the liberties and limits the 
opportunities of labor, and exploits without renewing 
or conserving the natural resources of the country; a 
body of agricultural activities never yet given the effi- 
ciency of great business undertakings or served as it 
should be through the instrumentality of science taken 
directly to the farm, or afforded the facilities of credit 
best suited to its practical needs; watercourses unde- 
veloped, waste places unreclaimed, forests untended, fast 
disappearing without plan or prospect of renewal, unre- 
garded waste heaps at every mine. "We have studied as 
perhaps no other nation has the most effective means of 
production, but we have not studied cost or economy as 
we should either as organizers of industry, as statesmen, 
or as individuals. 

Nor have we studied and perfected the means by 
which government may be put at the service of humanity, 
in safeguarding the health of the Nation, the health of 
its men and its women and its children, as well as their 
rights in the struggle for existence. This is no senti- 
mental duty. The firm basis of government is justice, 
not pity. These are matters of justice. There can be 
no equality or opportunity, the first essential of justice 
in the body politic, if men and women and children be 
not shielded in their lives, their very vitality, from the 
consequences of great industrial and social processes 
which they can not alter, control, or singly cope with. 
Society must see to it that it does not itself crush or 



184 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

weaken or damage its own constituent parts. The first 
duty of law is to keep sound the society it serves. 
Sanitary laws, pure food laws, and laws determining 
conditions of labor which individuals are powerless to 
determine for themselves are intimate parts of the very 
business of justice and legal efficiency. 

These are some of the things we ought to do, and not 
leave the others undone, the old-fashioned, never-to-be- 
neglected, fundamental safeguarding of property and of 
individual right. This is the high enterprise of the new 
day: To lift everything that concerns our life as a 
Nation to the light that shines from the hearthfire of 
every man's conscience and vision of the right. It is 
inconceivable that we should do this as partisans; it is 
inconceivable we should do it in ignorance of the facts 
as they are or in blind haste. We shall restore, not 
destroy. We shall deal with our economic system as it is 
and as it may be modified, not as it might be if we had 
a clean sheet of paper to write upon; and step by step 
we shall make it what it should be, in the spirit of those 
who question their own wisdom and seek counsel and 
knowledge, not shallow self-satisfaction or the excitement 
of excursions whither they can not tell. Justice, and only 
justice, shall always be our motto. 

And yet it will be no cool process of mere science. 
The Nation has been deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn 
passion, stirred by the knowledge of wrong, of ideals 
lost, of government too often debauched and made an 
instrument of evil. The feelings with which we face 
this new age of right and opportunity sweep across our 
heartstrings like some air out of God's own presence, 
where justice and mercy are reconciled and the judge 
and the brother are one. We know our task to be no mere 
task of politics but a task which shall search us through 



GREAT SPEECHES 185 

and through, whether we be able to understand our time 
and the need of our people, whether we be indeed their 
spokesmen and interpreters, whether we have the pure 
heart to comprehend and the rectified will to choose our 
high course of action. 

This is not a day of triumph ; it is a day of dedication. 
Here muster, not the forces of party, but the forces of 
humanity. Men 's hearts wait upon us ; men 's lives hang 
in the balance; men's hopes call upon us to say what 
we will do. "Who shall live up to the great trust ? "Who 
dares fail to try ? I summon all honest men, all patriotic, 
all forward-looking men, to my side. God helping me, 
I will not fail them, if they will but counsel and sus- 
tain me ! 



186 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

ON MEXICAN AFFAIRS 

Address of the President to Congress, at a Joint Session, 
August 27, 1913 

Gentlemen of the Congress: 

It is clearly my duty to lay before you, very fully and 
without reservation, the facts concerning our present 
relations with the Republic of Mexico. The deplorable 
posture of affairs in Mexico I need not describe, but I 
deem it my duty to speak very frankly of what this 
Government has done and should seek to do in fulfill- 
ment of its obligation to Mexico herself, as a friend and 
neighbor, and to American citizens whose lives and vital 
interests are daily affected by the distressing conditions 
which now obtain beyond our southern border. 

Those conditions touch us very nearly. Not merely 
because they lie at our very doors. That of course makes 
us more vividly and more constantly conscious of them, 
and every instinct of neighborly interest and sympathy 
is aroused and quickened by them ; but that is only one 
element in the determination of our duty. "We are glad 
to call ourselves the friends of Mexico, and we shall, I 
hope, have many an occasion, in happier times as well as 
in these days of trouble and confusion, to show that our 
friendship is genuine and disinterested, capable of sacri- 
fice and every generous manifestation. The peace, pros- 
perity, and contentment of Mexico mean more, much 
more, to us than merely an enlarged field of our com- 
merce and enterprise. They mean an enlargement of the 
field of self-government and the realization of the hopes 
and rights of a nation with whose best aspirations, so long 
suppressed and disappointed, we deeply sympathize. "We 
shall yet prove to the Mexican people that we know how 



GEEAT SPEECHES 187 

to serve them without first thinking how we shall serve 
ourselves. 

But we are not the only friends of Mexico. The whole 
world desires her peace and progress; and the whole 
world is interested as never before. Mexico lies at last 
where all the world looks on. Central America is about 
to be touched by the great routes of the world's trade 
and intercourse running free from ocean to ocean at the 
Isthmus. The future has much in store for Mexico, as 
for all the States of Central America ; but the best gifts 
can come to her only if she be ready and free to receive 
them and to enjoy them honorably. America in particu- 
lar — America north and south and upon both continents 
— waits upon the development of Mexico; and that de- 
velopment can be sound and lasting only if it be the 
product of a genuine freedom, a just and ordered govern- 
ment founded upon law. Only so can it be peaceful or 
fruitful of the benefits of peace. Mexico has a great and 
enviable future before her, if only she choose and attain 
the paths of honest constitutional government. 

The present circumstances of the Republic, I deeply 
regret to say, do not seem to promise even the foundations 
of such a peace. "We have waited many months, months 
full of peril and anxiety, for the conditions there to 
improve, and they have not improved. They have grown 
worse, rather. The territory in some sort controlled by 
the provisional authorities at Mexico City has grown 
smaller, not larger. The prospect of the pacification of 
the country, even by arms, has seemed to grow more and 
more remote; and its pacification by the authorities at 
the capital is evidently impossible by any other means 
than force. Difficulties more and more entangle those 
who claim to constitute the legitimate government of the 
Republic. They have not made good their claim in fact. 



188 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

Their successes in the field have proved only temporary. 
War and disorder, devastation and confusion, seem to 
threaten to become the settled fortune of the distracted 
country. As friends we could wait no longer for a solu- 
tion which every week seemed further away. It was our 
duty at least to volunteer our good offices — to offer to 
assist, if we might, in effecting some arrangement which 
would bring relief and peace and set up a universally 
acknowledged political authority there. 

Accordingly, I took the liberty of sending the Hon. 
John Lind, former governor of Minnesota, as my personal 
spokesman and representative, to the City of Mexico, 
with the following instructions : 

' ' Press very earnestly upon the attention of those who 
are now exercising authority or wielding influence in 
Mexico the following considerations and advice : 

"The Government of the United States does not feel 
at liberty any longer to stand inactively by while it 
becomes daily more and more evident that no real prog- 
ress is being made towards the establishment of a govern- 
ment at the City of Mexico which the country will obey 
and respect. 

' ' The Government of the United States does not stand 
in the same case with the other great Governments of 
the world in respect of what is happening or what is 
likely to happen in Mexico. We offer our good offices, 
not only because of our genuine desire to play the part 
of a friend, but also because we are expected by the 
powers of the world to act as Mexico's nearest friend. 

"We wish to act in these circumstances in the spirit of 
the most earnest and disinterested friendship. It is our 
purpose in whatever we do or propose in this perplexing 
and distressing situation not only to pay the most scrupu- 



GREAT SPEECHES I39 

lous regard to the sovereignty and independence of 
Mexico — that we take as a matter of course to which we 
are bound by every obligation of right and honor — but 
also to give every possible evidence that we act in the 
interest of Mexico alone, and not in the interest of any 
person or body of persons who may have personal or 
property claims in Mexico which they may feel that they 
have the right to press. We are seeking to counsel Mexico 
for her own good and in the interest of her own peace, 
and not for any other purpose whatever. The Govern- 
ment of the United States would deem itself discredited 
if it had any selfish or ulterior purpose in transactions 
where the peace, happiness, and prosperity of a whole 
people are involved. It is acting as its friendship for 
Mexico, not as any selfish interest, dictates. 

"The present situation in Mexico is incompatible with 
the fulfillment of international obligations on the part of 
Mexico, with the civilized development of Mexico herself, 
and with the maintenance of tolerable political and eco- 
nomic conditions in Central America. It is upon no 
common occasion, therefore, that the United States offers 
her counsel and assistance. All America cries out for 
a settlement. 

"A satisfactory settlement seems to us to be condi- 
tioned on — 

" (a) An immediate cessation of fighting throughout 
Mexico, a definite armistice solemnly entered into and 
scrupulously observed ; 

" (b) Security given for an early and free election in 
which all will agree to take part : 

"(c) The consent of Gen. Huerta to bind himself not to 
be a candidate for election as President of the Republic 
at this election ; and 

"(d) The agreement of all parties to abide by the 



190 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

results of the election and cooperate in the most loyal 
way in organizing and supporting the new administra- 
tion. 

' ' The Government of the United States will be glad to 
play any part in this settlement or in its carrying out 
which it can play honorably and consistently with inter- 
national right. It pledges itself to recognize and in every 
way possible and proper to assist the administration 
chosen and set up in Mexico in the way and on the condi- 
tions suggested. 

1 ' Taking all the existing conditions into consideration, 
the Government of the United States can conceive of no 
reason sufficient to justify those who are now attempting 
to shape the policy or exercise the authority of Mexico 
in declining the offices of friendship thus offered. Can 
Mexico give the civilized world a satisfactory reason for 
rejecting our good offices? If Mexico can suggest any 
better way in which to show our friendship, serve the 
people of Mexico, and meet our international obligations, 
we are more than willing to consider the suggestion. ' ' 

Mr. Lind executed his delicate and difficult mission with 
singular tact, firmness, and good judgment, and made 
clear to the authorities at the City of Mexico not only 
the purpose of his visit but also the spirit in which it 
had been undertaken. But the proposals he submitted 
were rejected, in a note the full text of which I take the 
liberty of laying before you. 

I am led to believe that they were rejected partly 
because the authorities at Mexico City had been grossly 
misinformed and misled upon two points. They did not 
realize the spirit of the American people in this matter, 
their earnest friendliness and yet sober determination 
that some just solution be found for the Mexican diffi- 



GEEAT SPEECHES 191 

culties ; and they did not believe that the present adminis- 
tration spoke, through Mr. Lind, for the people of the 
United States. The effect of this unfortunate misunder- 
standing on their part is to leave them singularly isolated 
and without friends who can effectually aid them. So 
long as the misunderstanding continues we can only await 
the time of their awakening to a realization of the actual 
facts. "We can not thrust our good offices upon them. 
The situation must be given a little more time to work 
itself out in the new circumstances; and I believe that 
only a little while will be necessary. For the circum- 
stances are new. The rejection of our friendship makes 
them new and will inevitably bring its own alterations 
in the whole aspect of affairs. The actual situation of the 
authorities at Mexico City will presently be revealed. 

Meanwhile, what is it our duty to do ? Clearly, every- 
thing that we do must be rooted in patience and done 
with calm and disinterested deliberation. Impatience 
on our part would be childish, and would be fraught with 
every risk of wrong and folly. "We can afford to exercise 
the self-restraint of a really great nation which realizes 
its own strength and scorns to misuse it. It was our duty 
to offer our active assistance. It is now our duty to show 
what true neutrality will do to enable the people of 
Mexico to set their affairs in order again and wait for 
a further opportunity to offer our friendly counsels. 
The door is not closed against the resumption, either 
upon the initiative of Mexico or upon our own, of the 
effort to bring order out of the confusion by friendly 
cooperative action, should fortunate occasion offer. 

While we wait the contest of the rival forces will 
undoubtedly for a little while be sharper than ever, just 
because it will be plain that an end must be made of the 
existing situation, and that very promptly ; and with the 



192 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

increased activity of the contending factions will come, 
it is to be feared, increased danger to the noncombatants 
in Mexico as well as to those actually in the field of battle. 
The position of outsiders is always particularly trying 
and full of hazard where there is civil strife and a whole 
country is upset. We should earnestly urge all Ameri- 
cans to leave Mexico at once, and should assist them to 
get away in every way possible — not because we would 
mean to slacken in the least our efforts to safeguard their 
lives and their interests, but because it is imperative that 
they should take no unnecesary risks when it is physically 
possible for them to leave the country. We should let 
every one who assumes to exercise authority in any part 
of Mexico know in the most unequivocal way that we shall 
vigilantly watch the fortunes of those Americans who can 
not get away, and shall hold those responsible for their 
sufferings and losses to a definite reckoning. That can be 
and will be made plain beyond the possibility of a mis- 
understanding. 

For the rest, I deem it my duty to exercise the authority 
conferred upon me by the law of March 14, 1912, to see 
to it that neither side to the struggle now going on in 
Mexico receive any assistance from this side of the border. 
I shall follow the best practice of nations in the matter of 
neutrality by forbidding the exportation of arms or muni- 
tions of war of any kind from the United States to any 
part of the Republic of Mexico — a policy suggested by 
several interesting precedents and certainly dictated by 
many manifest considerations of practical expediency. 
We can not in the circumstances be the partisans of either 
party to the contest that now distracts Mexico, or consti- 
tute ourselves the virtual umpire between them. 

I am happy to say that several of the great Govern- 
ments of the world have given this Government their 



GREAT SPEECHES 193 

generous moral support in urging upon the provisional 
authorities at the City of Mexico the acceptance of our 
proffered good offices in the spirit in which they were 
made. We have not acted in this matter under the ordi- 
nary principles of international obligation. All the 
world expects us in such circumstances to act as Mexico's 
nearest friend and intimate adviser. This is our imme- 
morial relation towards her. There is nowhere any seri- 
ous question that we have the moral right in the case or 
that we are acting in the interest of a fair settlement and 
of good government, not for the promotion of some selfish 
interest of our own. If further motive were necessary 
than our own good will towards a sister Republic and our 
own deep concern to see peace and order prevail in Cen- 
tral America, this consent of mankind to what we are 
attempting, this attitude of the great nations of the 
world towards what we may attempt in dealing with this 
distressed people at our doors, should make us feel the 
more solemnly bound to go to the utmost length of 
patience and forbearance in this painful and anxious 
business. The steady pressure of moral force will before 
many days break the barriers of pride and prejudice 
down, and we shall triumph as Mexico's friends sooner 
than we could triumph as her enemies — and how much 
more handsomely, with how much higher and finer satis- 
factions of conscience and of honor ! 



194 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

AT INDEPENDENCE HALL 

Address of President Wilson in Philadelphia, 
July 4, 1914 

Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens : 

We are assembled to celebrate the one hundred and 
thirty-eighth anniversary of the birth of the United 
States. I suppose that we can more vividly realize the 
circumstances of that birth standing on this historic spot 
than it would be possible to realize them anywhere else. 
The Declaration of Independence was written in Phila- 
delphia ; it was adopted in this historic building by which 
we stand. I have just had the privilege of sitting in the 
chair of the great man who presided over the deliberations 
of those who gave the declaration to the world. My hand 
rests at this moment upon the table upon which the decla- 
ration was signed. "We can feel that we are almost in the 
visible and tangible presence of a great historic transac- 
tion. 

Have you ever read the Declaration of Independence or 
attended with close comprehension to the real character 
of it when you have heard it read ? If you have, you will 
know that it is not a Fourth of July oration. The Decla- 
ration of Independence was a document preliminary to 
war. It was a vital piece of practical business, not a 
piece of rhetoric ; and if you will pass beyond those pre- 
liminary passages which we are accustomed to quote 
about the rights of men and read into the heart of the 
document you will see that it is very express and detailed, 
that it consists of a series of definite specifications con- 
cerning actual public business of the day. Not the busi- 
ness of our day, for the matter with which it deals is past, 
but the business of that first revolution by which the 



GKEAT SPEECHES 195 

Nation was set up, the business of 1776. Its general 
statements, its general declarations can not mean any- 
thing to us unless we append to it a similar specific body 
of particulars as to what we consider the essential busi- 
ness of our own day. 

Liberty does not consist, my fellow citizens, in mere 
general declarations of the rights of man. It consists in 
the translation of those declarations into definite action. 
Therefore, standing here where the declaration was 
adopted, reading its business-like sentences, we ought 
to ask ourselves what there is in it for us. There is noth- 
ing in it for us unless we can translate it into the terms 
of our own conditions and of our own lives. "We must 
reduce it to what the lawyers call a bill of particulars. 
It contains a bill of particulars, but the bill of particulars 
of 1776. If we would keep it alive, we must fill it with a 
bill of particulars of the year 1914. 

The task to which we have constantly to readdress our- 
selves is the task of proving that we are worthy of the 
men who drew this great declaration and know what they 
would have done in our circumstances. Patriotism con- 
sists in some very practical things — practical in that they 
belong to the life of every day, that they wear no extraor- 
dinary distinction about them, that they are connected 
with commonplace duty. The way to be patriotic in 
America is not only to love America, but to love the duty 
that lies nearest to our hand and know that in performing 
it we are serving our country. There are some gentlemen 
in Washington, for example, at this very moment who 
are showing themselves very patriotic in a way which 
does not attract wide attention but seems to belong to 
mere everyday obligations. The Members of the House 
and Senate who stay in hot Washington to maintain a 
quorum of the Houses and transact the all-important 



196 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

business of the Nation are doing an act of patriotism. I 
honor them for it, and I am glad to stay there and stick 
by them until the work is done. 

It is patriotic, also, to learn what the facts of our 
national life are and to face them with candor. I have 
heard a great many facts stated about the present business 
condition of this country, for example — a great many 
allegations of fact, at any rate, but the allegations do 
not tally with one another. And yet I know that truth 
always matches with truth ; and when I find some insisting 
that everything is going wrong and others insisting that 
everything is going right, and when I know from a wide 
observation of the general circumstances of the country 
taken as a whole that things are going extremely well, I 
wonder what those who are crying out that things are 
wrong are trying to do. Are they trying to serve the 
country, or are they trying to serve something smaller 
than the country ? Are they trying to put hope into the 
hearts of the men who work and toil every day, or are they 
trying to plant discouragement and despair into those 
hearts ? And why do they cry that everything is wrong 
and yet do nothing to set it right ? If they love America 
and anything is wrong amongst us, it is their business to 
put their hand with ours to the task of setting it right. 
When the facts are known and acknowledged, the duty 
of all patriotic men is to accept them in candor and to 
address themselves hopefully and confidently to the com- 
mon counsel which is necessary to act upon them wisely 
and in universal concert. 

I have had some experiences in the last 14 months which 
have not been entirely reassuring. It was universally 
admitted, for example, my fellow citizens, that the bank- 
ing system of this country needed reorganization. We set 



GREAT SPEECHES 197 

the best minds that we could find to the task of discover- 
ing the best method of reorganization. But we met with 
hardly anything but criticism from the bankers of the 
country; we met with hardly anything but resistance 
from the majority of those at least who spoke at all con- 
cerning the matter. And yet so soon as that act was 
passed there was a universal chorus of applause, and the 
very men who had opposed the measure joined in that 
applause. If it was wrong the day before it was passed, 
why was it right the day after it was passed? Where 
had been the candor of criticism not only, but the concert 
of counsel which makes legislative action vigorous and 
safe and successful? 

It is not patriotic to concert measures against one 
another; it is patriotic to concert measures for one an- 
other. 

In one sense the Declaration of Independence has lost 
its significance. It has lost its significance as a decla- 
ration of national independence. Nobody outside of 
America believed when it was uttered that we could make 
good our independence; now nobody anywhere would 
dare to doubt that we are independent and can maintain 
our independence. As a declaration of independence, 
therefore, it is a mere historic document. Our inde- 
pendence is a fact so stupendous that it can be measured 
only by the size and energy and variety and wealth and 
power of one of the greatest nations in the world. But 
it is one thing to be independent and it is another thing 
to know what to do with your independence. It is one 
thing to come to your majority and another thing to 
know what you are going to do with your life and your 
energies ; and one of the most serious questions for sober- 
minded men to address themselves to in the United States 
is this : What are we going to do with the influence and 



198 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

power of this great Nation? Are we going to play the 
old role of using that power for our aggrandizement and 
material benefit only ? You know what that may mean. 
It may upon occasion mean that we shall use it to make 
the people of other nations suffer in the way in which 
we said it was intolerable to suffer when we uttered our 
Declaration of Independence. 

The Department of State at Washington is constantly 
called upon to back up the commercial enterprises and 
the industrial enterprises of the United States in foreign 
countries, and it at one time went so far in that direction 
that all its diplomacy came to be designated as "dollar 
diplomacy." It was called upon to support every man 
who wanted to earn anything anywhere if he was an 
American. But there ought to be a limit to that. There 
is no man who is more interested than I am in carrying 
the enterprise of American business men to every quarter 
of the globe. I was interested in it long before I was 
suspected of being a politician. I have been preaching 
it year after year as the great thing that lay in the future 
for the United States, to show her wit and skill and enter- 
prise and influence in every country in the world. But 
observe the limit to all that which is laid upon us perhaps 
more than upon any other nation in the world. "We set 
this Nation up, at any rate we professed to set it up, to 
vindicate the rights of men. We did not name any differ- 
ences between one race and another. We did not set up 
any barriers against any particular people. We opened 
our gates to all the world and said, ' ' Let all men who wish 
to be free come to us and they will be welcome." We 
said, "This independence of ours is not a selfish thing for 
our own exclusive private use. It is for everybody to 
whom we can find the means of extending it. ' ' We can 



GEEAT SPEECHES 199 

not with that oath taken in our youth, we can not with 
that great ideal set before us when we were a young 
people and numbered only a scant 3,000,000, take upon 
ourselves, now that we are 100,000,000 strong, any other 
conception of duty than we then entertained. If Ameri- 
can enterprise in foreign countries, particularly in those 
foreign countries which are not strong enough to resist 
us, takes the shape of imposing upon and exploiting the 
mass of the people of that country it ought to be checked 
and not encouraged. I am willing to get anything for an 
American that money and enterprise can obtain except 
the suppression of the rights of other men. I will not help 
any man buy a power which he ought not to exercise over 
his fellow beings. 

You know, my fellow countrymen, what a big question 
there is in Mexico. Eighty-five per cent of the Mexican 
people have never been allowed to have any genuine par- 
ticipation in their own Government or to exercise any 
substantial rights with regard to the very land they live 
upon. All the rights that men most desire have been 
exercised by the other 15 per cent. Do you suppose that 
that circumstance is not sometimes in my thought? I 
know that the American people have a heart that will 
beat just as strong for those millions in Mexico as it will 
beat, or has beaten, for any other millions elsewhere in 
the world, and that when once they conceive what is at 
stake in Mexico they will know what ought to be done in 
Mexico. I hear a great deal said about the loss of prop- 
erty in Mexico and the loss of the lives of foreigners, and I 
deplore these things with all my heart. Undoubtedly, 
upon the conclusion of the present disturbed conditions 
in Mexico those who have been unjustly deprived of their 
property or in any wise unjustly put upon ought to be 



200 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

compensated. Men's individual rights have no doubt 
been invaded, and the invasion of those rights has been 
attended by many deplorable circumstances which ought 
some time, in the proper way, to be accounted for. But 
back of it all is the struggle of a people to come into its 
own, and while we look upon the incidents in the fore- 
ground let us not forget the great tragic reality in the 
background which towers above the whole picture. 

A patriotic American is a man who is not niggardly and 
selfish in the things that he enjoys that make for human 
liberty and the rights of man. He wants to share them 
with the whole world, and he is never so proud of the 
great flag under which he lives as when it comes to mean 
to other people as well as to himself a symbol of hope 
and liberty. I would be ashamed of this flag if it ever 
did anything outside America that we would not permit 
it to do inside of America. 

The world is becoming more complicated every day, 
my fellow citizens. No man ought to be foolish enough to 
think that he understands it all. And, therefore, I am 
glad that there are some simple things in the world. One 
of the simple things is principle. Honesty is a perfectly 
simple thing. It is hard for me to believe that in most 
circumstances when a man has a choice of ways he does 
not know which is the right way and which is the wrong 
way. No man who has chosen the wrong way ought 
even to come into Independence Square ; it is holy ground 
which he ought not to tread upon. He ought not to come 
where immortal voices have uttered the great sentences 
of such a document as this Declaration of Independence 
upon which rests the liberty of a whole nation. 

And so I say that it is patriotic sometimes to prefer 
the honor of the country to its material interest. Would 
you rather be deemed by all the nations of the world in- 



GEEAT SPEECHES 201 

capable of keeping your treaty obligations in order that 
you might have free tolls for American ships ? The treaty 
under which we gave up that right may have been a mis- 
taken treaty, but there was no mistake about its meaning. 

When I have made a promise as a man I try to keep 
it, and I know of no other rule permissible to a nation. 
The most distinguished nation in the world is the nation 
that can and will keep its promises even to its own hurt. 
And I want to say parenthetically that I do not think 
anybody was hurt. I can not be enthusiastic for subsidies 
to a monopoly, but let those who are enthusiastic for sub- 
sidies ask themselves whether they prefer subsidies to 
unsullied honor. 

The most patriotic man, ladies and gentlemen, is some- 
times the man who goes in the direction that he thinks 
right even when he sees half the world against him. It 
is the dictate of patriotism to sacrifice yourself if you 
think that that is the path of honor and of duty. Do not 
blame others if they do not agree with you. Do not die 
with bitterness in your heart because you did not con- 
vince the rest of the world, but die happy because you be- 
lieve that you tried to serve your country by not selling 
your soul. Those were grim days, the days of 1776. 
Those gentlemen did not attach their names to the Decla- 
ration of Independence on this table expecting a holiday 
on the next day, and that 4th of July was not itself a holi- 
day. They attached their signatures to that significant 
document knowing that if they failed it was certain that 
every one of them would hang for the failure. They were 
committing treason in the interest of the liberty of 3,000,- 
000 people in America. All the rest of the world was 
against them and smiled with cynical incredulity at the 
audacious undertaking. Do you think that if they could 
see this Nation now they would regret anything that they 



202 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

then did to draw the gaze of a hostile world upon them ? 
Every idea must be started by somebody, and it is a lonely 
thing to start anything. Yet if it is in you, you must 
start it if you have a man 's blood in you and if you love 
the country that you profess to be working for. 

I am sometimes very much interested when I see gen- 
tlemen supposing that popularity is the way to success in 
America. The way to success in this great country, with 
its fair judgments, is to show that you are not afraid of 
anybody except God and his final verdict. If I did not 
believe that, I would not believe in democracy. If I did 
not believe that, I would not believe that people can gov- 
ern themselves. If I did not believe that the moral judg- 
ment would be the last judgment, the final judgment, in 
the minds of men as well as the tribunal of God, I could 
not believe in popular government. But I do believe these 
things, and, therefore, I earnestly believe in the democ- 
racy not only of America but of every awakened people 
that wishes and intends to govern and control its own 
affairs. 

It is very inspiring, my friends, to come to this that 
may be called the original fountain of independence and 
liberty in America and here drink draughts of patriotic 
feeling which seem to renew the very blood in one 's veins. 
Down in Washington sometimes when the days are hot 
and the business presses intolerably and there are so 
many things to do that it does not seem possible to do 
anything in the way it ought to be done, it is always 
possible to lift one 's thought above the task of the moment 
and, as it were, to realize that great thing of which we 
are all parts, the great body of American feeling and 
American principle. No man could do the work that has 
to be done in Washington if he allowed himself to be sepa- 



GREAT SPEECHES 203 

rated from that body of principle. He must make him- 
self feel that he is a part of the people of the United 
States, that he is trying to think not only for them, but 
with them, and then he can not feel lonely. He not only 
can not feel lonely but he can not feel afraid of anything. 

My dream is that as the years go and the world knows 
more and more of America it will also drink at these 
fountains of youth and renewal ; that it also will turn to 
America for those moral inspirations which lie at the 
basis of all freedom; that the world will never fear 
America unless it feels that it is engaged in some enter- 
prise which is inconsistent with the rights of humanity; 
and that America will come into the full light of the day 
when all shall know that she puts human rights above 
all other rights and that her flag is the flag not only of 
America but of humanity. 

"What other great people has devoted itself to this 
exalted ideal ? To what other nation in the world can all 
eyes look for an instant sympathy that thrills the whole 
body politic when men anywhere are fighting for their 
rights ? I do not know that there will ever be a declara- 
tion of independence and of grievances for mankind, but 
I believe that if any such document is ever drawn it will 
be drawn in the spirit of the American Declaration of 
Independence, and that America has lifted high the light 
which will shine unto all generations and guide the feet 
of mankind to the goal of justice and liberty and peace. 



204 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 



On Censorship of the Press 

President Wilson expressed his opinion of the censor- 
ship provision in the espionage bill in a letter, May 22, 
1917, to Chairman Webb of the House judiciary com- 
mittee, in which he said : 

"I have been much surprised to find several of the 
public prints stating that the Administration had aban- 
doned the position which it so distinctly took, and still 
holds — that authority to exercise censorship over the 
press to the extent that that censorship is embodied in 
the recent action of the House of Representatives is abso- 
lutely necessary to the public safety. It, of course, has 
not been abandoned, because the reasons still exist why 
such authority is necessary for the protection of the 
nation. 

"I have every confidence that the great majority of 
the newspapers of the country will observe a reticence 
about everything whose publication could be of injury, 
but in every country there are some persons in a position 
to do mischief in this field who cannot be relied on, and 
whose interests or desires will lead to actions on their 
part highly dangerous to the nation in the midst of a 
war. I want to say again that it seems to me imperative 
that powers of this sort should be granted." 




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HISTORY. MAKING 
DOCUMENTS 



RESTRAINTS OF U. S. COMMERCE 

First Proclamation of the German Admiralty Declaring 
a Naval War Zone 

1. The waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland, 
including the whole English Channel, are hereby declared 
to be war zone. On and after the 18th of February, 
1915, every enemy merchant ship found in the said war 
zone will be destroyed without its being always possible 
to avert the dangers threatening the crews and passengers 
on that account. 

2. Even neutral ships are exposed to danger in the 
war zone as, in view of the misuse of neutral flags ordered 
on January 31 by the British Government and of the 
accidents of naval war, it can not always be avoided to 
strike even neutral ships in attacks that are directed at 
enemy ships. 

3. Northward navigation around the Shetland Islands, 
in the eastern waters of the North Sea and in a strip of 
not less than 30 miles width along the Netherlands coast 
is in no danger. 

Von Pohl, 
Chief of the Admiral Staff of the Navy. 

Berlin, February 4, 1915. 
205 



206 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

THE AMERICAN PROTEST 

Secretary of State Bryan to Ambassador Gerard at 

Berlin 

Department of State, 
Washington, February 10, 1915. 

Please address a note immediately to the Imperial 
German Government to the following effect: 

The Government of the United States, having had its 
attention directed to the proclamation of the German 
Admiralty issued on the fourth of February, that the 
waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland, including 
the whole of the English Channel, are to be considered as 
comprised within the seat of war; that all enemy mer- 
chant vessels found in those waters after the eighteenth 
instant will be destroyed, although it may not always be 
possible to save crews and passengers; and that neutral 
vessels expose themselves to danger within this zone of 
war because, in view of the misuse of neutral flags said to 
have been ordered by the British Government on the 
thirty-first of January and of the contingencies of mari- 
time warfare, it may not be possible always to exempt 
neutral vessels from attacks intended to strike enemy 
ships, feels it to be its duty to call the attention of the 
Imperial German Government, with sincere respect and 
the most friendly sentiments but very candidly and ear- 
nestly, to the very serious possibilities of the course of 
action apparently contemplated under that proclamation. 

The Government of the United States views those pos- 
sibilities with such grave concern that it feels it to be its 
privilege, and indeed its duty in the circumstances, to 
request the Imperial German Government to consider 
before action is taken the critical situation in respect of 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 207 

the relations between this country and Germany which 
might arise were the German naval forces, in carrying 
out the policy foreshadowed in the Admiralty's procla- 
mation, to destroy any merchant vessel of the United 
States or cause the death of American citizens. 

It is of course not necessary to remind the German 
Government that the sole right of a belligerent in deal- 
ing with neutral vessels on the high seas is limited to visit 
and search, unless a blockade is proclaimed and effectively 
maintained, which this Government does not understand 
to be proposed in this case. To declare or exercise a right 
to attack and destroy any vessel entering a prescribed 
area of the high seas without first certainly determining 
its belligerent nationality and the contraband character 
of its cargo would be an act so unprecedented in naval 
warfare that this Government is reluctant to believe that 
the Imperial Government of Germany in this case con- 
templates it as possible. The suspicion that enemy ships 
are using neutral flags improperly can create no just pre- 
sumption that all ships traversing a prescribed area are 
subject to the same suspicion. It is to determine exactly 
such questions that this Government understands the 
right of visit and search to have been recognized. 

This Government has carefully noted the explanatory 
statement issued by the Imperial German Government at 
the same time with the proclamation of the German Ad- 
miralty, and takes this occasion to remind the Imperial 
German Government very respectfully that the Govern- 
ment of the United States is open to none of the criticisms 
for unneutral action to which the German Government be- 
lieve the governments of certain other neutral nations 
have laid themselves open; that the Government of the 
United States has not consented to or acquiesced in any 
measures which may have been taken by the other bellig- 



208 HISTORY MAKING DOCUMENTS 

erent nations in the present war which operate to restrain 
neutral trade, but has, on the contrary, taken in all such 
matters a position which warrants it in holding those 
governments responsible in the proper way for any un- 
toward effects upon American shipping which the ac- 
cepted principles of international law do not justify ; and 
that it, therefore, regards itself as free in the present 
instance to take with a clear conscience and upon accepted 
principles the position indicated in this note. 

If the commanders of German vessels of war should 
act upon the presumption that the flag of the United 
States was not being used in good faith and should de- 
stroy on the high seas an American vessel or the lives of 
American citizens, it would be difficult for the Govern- 
ment of the United States to view the act in any other 
light than as an indefensible violation of neutral rights 
which it would be very hard indeed to reconcile with the 
friendly relations now so happily subsisting between the 
two Governments. 

If such a deplorable situation should arise, the Imperial 
German Government can readily appreciate that the Gov- 
ernment of the United States would be constrained to 
hold the Imperial German Government to a strict ac- 
countability for such acts of their naval authorities and 
to take any steps it might be necessary to take to safe- 
guard American lives and property and to secure to 
American citizens the full enjoyment of their acknowl- 
edged rights on the high seas. 

The Government of the United States, in view of these 
considerations, which it urges with the greatest respect 
and with the sincere purpose of making sure that no 
misunderstanding may arise and no circumstance occur 
that might even cloud the intercourse of the two Govern- 
ments, expresses the confident hope and expectation that 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 209 

the Imperial German Government can and will give assur- 
ance that American citizens and their vessels will not be 
molested by the naval forces of Germany otherwise than 
by visit and search, though their vessels may be traversing 
the sea area delimited in the proclamation of the German 
Admiralty. 

It is added for the information of the Imperial Gov- 
ernment that representations have been made to His 
Britannic Majesty's Government in respect to the un- 
warranted use of the American flag for the protection of 
British ships. 



Ambassador W. H. Page to the Secretary of State 

American Embassy, 
London, February 19, 1915. 

Sir Edward Grey has just handed me the following 
memorandum since your telegram to him was given to 
the press in Washington : 

"The memorandum communicated on the 11th Febru- 
ary calls attention in courteous and friendly terms to the 
action of the captain of the British S. S. Lusitania in 
raising the flag of the United States of America when 
approaching British waters and says that the Government 
of the United States feel a certain anxiety in consider- 
ing the possibility of any general use of the flag of the 
United States by British vessels traversing those waters 
since the effect of such a policy might be to bring about 
a menace to the lives and vessels of United States citizens. 

' ' It was understood that the German Government had 
announced their intention of sinking British merchant 
vessels at sight by torpedoes without giving any oppor- 
tunity of making any provision for saving the lives of 



210 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

noncouibatant crews and passengers. It was in conse- 
quence of this threat that the Lusitania raised the United 
States flag on her inward voyage and on her subsequent 
outward voyage. A request was made by the United 
States passengers who were embarking on board her that 
the United States flag should be hoisted presumably to 
insure their safety. Meanwhile the memorandum from 
Your Excellency had been received. His Majesty's Gov- 
ernment did not give any advice to the company as to 
how to meet this request and it is understood that the 
Lusitania left Liverpool under the British flag. 

' ' It seems unnecessary to say more as regards the Lusi- 
tania in particular regard to the use of foreign flags by 
merchant vessels. The British merchant shipping act 
makes it clear that the use of the British flag by foreign 
merchant vessels is permitted in time of war for the 
purpose of escaping capture. It is believed that in the 
case of some other nations there is a similar recognition 
of the same practice with regard to their flags and that 
none have forbidden it. It would therefore be unreason- 
able to expect His Majesty's Government to pass legisla- 
tion forbidding the use of foreign flags by British mer- 
chant vessels to avoid capture by the enemy. Now that 
the German Government have announced their intention 
to sink merchant vessels at sight with their noncombatant 
crews, cargoes, and papers, a proceeding hitherto re- 
garded by the opinion of the world not as war, but as 
piracy, it is felt that the United States Government could 
not fairly ask the British Government to order British 
merchant vessels to forego the means — always hitherto 
permitted — of escaping not only capture but the much 
worse fate of sinking and destruction. Great Britain 
has always when neutral accorded to the vessels of other 
States at war liberty to use the British flag as a means of 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 211 

protection against capture, and instances are on record 
when United States vessels availed themselves of this 
facility during the American Civil "War. It would be 
contrary to fair expectation if now, when the conditions 
are reversed, the United States and neutral nations were 
to grudge to British ships liberty to take similar action. 
The British Government have no intention of advising 
their merchant shipping to use foreign flags as general 
practice or to resort to them otherwise than for escaping 
capture or destruction. 

''The obligation upon a belligerent warship to ascer- 
tain definitely for itself the nationality and character of 
a merchant vessel before capturing it and "a fortiori" 
before sinking and destroying it has been universally 
recognized. If that obligation is fulfilled, hoisting a neu- 
tral flag on board a British vessel can not possibly en- 
danger neutral shipping and the British Government hold 
that if loss to neutrals is caused by disregard of this obli- 
gation it is upon the enemy vessel disregarding it and 
upon the Government giving orders that it should be dis- 
regarded that the sole responsibility for injury to neutrals 
ought to rest. ' ' 



Secretary of State Bryan to Ambassador W. H. Page 

Department of State, 
"Washington, February 20, 1915. 

You will please deliver to Sir Edward Grey the fol- 
lowing identic note which we are sending England and 
Germany : 

In view of the correspondence which has passed be- 
tween this Government and Great Britain and Germany 



212 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

respectively, relative to the Declaration of a war zone 
by the German Admiralty and the use of neutral flags 
by British merchant vessels, this Government ventures to 
express the hope that the two belligerent Governments 
may, through reciprocal concessions, find a basis for 
agreement which will relieve neutral ships engaged in 
peaceful commerce from the great dangers which they 
will incur in the high seas adjacent to the coasts of the 
belligerents. 

The Government of the United States respectfully sug- 
gests that an agreement in terms like the following might 
be entered into. This suggestion is not to be regarded as 
in any sense a proposal made by this Government, for it 
of course fully recognizes that it is not its privilege to 
propose terms of agreement between Great Britain and 
Germany, even though the matter be one in which it and 
the people of the United States are directly and deeply 
interested. It is merely venturing to take the liberty 
which it hopes may be" 1 accorded a sincere friend desirous 
of embarrassing neither nation involved and of serving, 
if it may, the common interests of humanity. The course 
outlined is offered in the hope that it may draw forth 
the views and elicit the suggestions of the British and 
German Governments on a matter of capital interest to 
the whole world. 

Germany and Great Britain to agree: 

1. That neither will sow any floating mines, whether 
upon the high seas or in territorial waters ; that neither 
will plant on the high seas anchored mines except within 
cannon range of harbors for defensive purposes only; 
and that all mines shall bear the stamp of the Govern- 
ment planting them and be so constructed as to become 
harmless if separated from their moorings. 

2. That neither will use submarines to attack mer- 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 213 

chant vessels of any nationality except to enforce the 
right of visit and search. 

3. That each will require their respective merchant 
vessels not to use neutral flags for the purpose of disguise 
or ruse de guerre. 

Germany to agree: 

That all importations of food or foodstuffs from the 
United States (and from such other neutral countries as 
may ask it) into Germany shall be consigned to agencies 
to be designated by the United States Government ; that 
these American agencies shall have entire charge and con- 
trol without interference on the part of the German Gov- 
ernment, of the receipt and distribution of such impor- 
tations, and shall distribute them solely to retail dealers 
bearing licenses from the German Government entitling 
them to receive and furnish such food and foodstuffs to 
noneombatants only; that any violation of the terms of 
the retailers' licenses shall work a forfeiture of their 
rights to receive such food and foodstuffs for this pur- 
pose ; and that such food and foodstuffs will not be requi- 
sitioned by the German Government for any purpose 
whatsoever or be diverted to the use of the armed forces of 
Germany. 

Great Britain to agree: 

That food and foodstuffs will not be placed upon the 
absolute contraband list and that shipments of such com- 
modities will not be interfered with or detained by British 
authorities if consigned to agencies designated by the 
United States Government in Germany for the receipt 
and distribution of such cargoes to licensed German re- 
tailers for distribution solely to the noncombatant popu- 
lation. 

In submitting this proposed basis of agreement this 
Government does not wish to be understood as admitting 



214 .HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

or denying any belligerent or neutral right established by 
the principles of international law, but would consider 
the agreement, if acceptable to the interested powers, a 
modus vivendi based upon expediency rather than legal 
right and as not binding upon the United States either in 
its present form or in a modified form until accepted by 
this Government. 



Ambassador Gerard to the Secretary of State 

American Embassy, 
Berlin, March 1, 1915. 

Following is translation of the German reply : 
' ' The undersigned has the honor to inform His Excel- 
lency, Mr. James W. Gerard, Ambassador of the United 
States of America, in reply to the note of the 22d instant, 
that the Imperial German Government have taken note 
with great interest of the suggestion of the American 
Government that certain principles for the conduct of 
maritime war on the part of Germany and England be 
agreed upon for the protection of neutral shipping. They 
see therein new evidence of the friendly feelings of the 
American Government toward the German Government 
which are fully reciprocated by Germany. 

"It is in accordance with Germany's wishes also to have 
maritime war conducted according to rules which without 
discriminately restricting one or the other of the bellig- 
erent powers in the use of their means of warfare, are 
equally considerate of the interests of neutrals and the 
dictates of humanity. Consequently it was intimated i» 
the German note of the 16th instant that observation of 
the Declaration of London on the part of Germany's ad- 



HISTORY -MAKING DOCUMENTS 215 

versaries would create a new situation from which the 
German Government would gladly draw the proper 
conclusions. 

"Proceeding from this view, the German Government 
have carefully examined the suggestion of the American 
Government and believe that they can actually see in it 
a suitable basis for the practical solution of the ques- 
tions which have arisen. 

"With regard to the various points of the American 
note they beg to make the following remarks : 

"1. With regard to the sowing of mines, the German 
Government would be willing to agree as suggested not 
to use floating mines and to have anchored mines con- 
structed as indicated. Moreover, they agree to put the 
stamp of the Government on all mines to be planted. 
On the other hand, it does not appear to them to be 
feasible for the belligerents wholly to forego the use of 
anchored mines for offensive purposes. 

"2. The German Government would undertake not 
to use their submarines to attack mercantile vessels of 
any flag except when necessary to enforce the right of 
visit and search. Should the enemy nationality of the 
vessel or the presence of contraband be ascertained 
submarine would proceed in accordance with the gen- 
eral rules of international law. 

"3. As provided in the American note, this restric- 
tion of the use of the submarines is contingent on the 
fact that enemy mercantile abstain from the use of the 
neutral flag and other neutral distinctive marks. It 
would appear to be a matter of course that such mer- 
cantile also abstain from arming themselves and from 
all resistance by force, since such procedure contrary 
to international law would render impossible any action 
of the submarines in accordance with international law. 



216 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

"4. The regulation of legitimate importations of 
food into Germany suggested by the American Govern- 
ment appears to be in general acceptable. Such regula- 
tion would, of course, be confined to importations by 
sea, but that would on the other hand include indirect 
importations by way of neutral ports. The German 
Government would, therefore, be willing to make the 
declarations of the nature provided in the American 
note so that the use of the imported food and foodstuffs 
solely by the non-combatant population would be guar- 
anteed. The Imperial Government must, however, in 
addition (* # *) having the importation of other raw 
material used by the economic system of non-combat- 
ants including forage permitted. To that end the 
enemy Governments would have to permit the free entry 
into Germany of the raw material mentioned in the free 
list of the Declaration of London and to treat materials 
included in the list of conditional contraband according 
to the same principles as food and foodstuffs. 

"The German Government venture to hope that the 
agreement for which the American Government have 
paved the way may be reached after due consideration 
of the remarks made above, and that in this way peace- 
able neutral shipping and trade will not have to suffer 
any more than is absolutely necessary from the unavoid- 
able effect of maritime war. These effects could be still 
further reduced if, as was pointed out in the German 
note of the 16th instant, some way could be found to 
exclude the shipping of munitions of war from neutral 
countries to belligerents on ships of any nationality. 

"The German Government must, of course, reserve a 
definite statement of their position until such time as 
they may receive further information from the Ameri- 
can Government enabling them to see what obligations 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 217 

the British Government are on their part willing to 
assume. 

"The undersigned avails himself of this occasion, etc. 

"(Signed) Von Jagow. 

"Dated Foreign Office, Berlin, February 28, 1915." 



The British Ambassador to the Secretary of State 

Germany has declared that the English Channel, the 
north and west coasts of France, and the waters around 
the British Isles are a war area and has officially notified 
that all enemy ships found in that area will be destroyed 
and that neutral vessels may be exposed to danger. 
This is in effect a claim to torpedo at sight, without 
regard to the safety of the crew or passengers, any 
merchant vessel under any flag. As it is not in the 
power of the German Admiralty to maintain any sur- 
face craft in these waters, this attack can only be deliv- 
ered by submarine agency. 

The law and custom of nations in regard to attack on 
commerce have always presumed that the first duty of 
the captor of a merchant vessel is to bring it before a 
prize court where it may be tried, where the regularity 
of the capture may be challenged and where neutrals 
may recover their cargoes. The sinking of prizes is 
in itself a questionable act to be resorted to only in 
extraordinary circumstances and after provision has 
been made for the safety of all the crew or passeners, 
if there are passengers on board. The responsibility 
for discriminating between neutral and enemy vessels, 
and between neutral and enemy cargo, obviously rests 
with the attacking ship, whose duty is to verify the 
status and character of the vessel and cargo and to 



218 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

preserve all papers before sinking or even capturing it. 
So, also, is the humane duty of providing for the safety 
of the crews of merchant vessels, whether neutral or 
enemy, an obligation upon every belligerent. 

It is upon this basis that all previous discussions of 
the law for regulating warfare at sea have proceeded. 
A German submarine, however, fulfills none of these 
obligations ; she enjoys no local command of the waters 
in which she operates; she does not take her captures 
within the jurisdiction of a prize court; she carries no 
prize crew which she can put on board a prize ; she uses 
no effective means of discriminating between a neutral 
and an enemy vessel ; she does not receive on board for 
safety the crew and passengers of the vessel she sinks ; 
her methods of warfare are therefore entirely outside 
the scope of any of the international instruments regu- 
lating operations against commerce in time of war. 
The German declaration substitutes indiscriminate 
destruction for regulated capture. Germany is adopt- 
ing these methods against peaceful traders and non- 
combatant crews with the avowed object of preventing 
commodities of all kinds, including food for the civil 
population, from reaching or leaving the British Isles 
or northern France. 

Her opponents are therefore driven to frame retalia- 
tory measures in order in their turn to prevent com- 
modities of any kind from reaching or leaving Germany. 
These measures will, however, be enforced by the Brit- 
ish and French Governments without risk to neutral 
ships or to neutral or non-combatant life and in strict 
observance of the dictates of humanity. The British 
and French Governments will therefore hold themselves 
free to detain and take into port ships carrying goods 
of presumed enemy destination, ownership, or origin. 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 219 

It is not intended to confiscate such vessels or cargoes 
unless they would otherwise be liable to condemnation. 
The treatment of vessels and cargoes which have sailed 
before this date will not be affected. 

Cecil Spring Rice. 
British Embassy, Washington, March 1, 1915. 



Secretary of State Eryan to Ambassador Page 

Department of State, 
Washington, March 5, 1915. 

In regard to the recent communications received from 
the British and French Governments concerning re- 
straints upon commerce with Germany, please communi- 
cate with the British foreign office in the sense follow- 
ing: 

The difficulty of determining action upon the British 
and French declarations of intended retaliation upon 
commerce with Germany lies in the nature of the pro- 
posed measures in their relation to commerce by 
neutrals. 

While it appears that the intention is to interfere with 
and take into custody all ships, both outgoing and in- 
coming, trading with Germany, which is in effect a 
blockade of German ports, the rule of blockade, that a 
ship attempting to enter or leave a German port regard- 
less of the character of its cargo may be condemned, is 
not asserted. 

The language of the declaration is "the British and 
French Governments will, therefore, hold themselves 
free to detain and take into port ships carrying goods 
of presumed enemy destination, ownership, or origin. 



220 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

It is not intended to confiscate such vessels or cargoes 
unless they would otherwise be liable to condemnation." 

The first sentence claims a right pertaining only to a 
state of blockade. The last sentence proposes a treat- 
ment of ships and cargoes as if no blockade existed. 
The two together present a proposed course of action 
previously unknown to international law. 

As a consequence neutrals have no standard by which 
to measure their rights or to avoid danger to their ships 
and cargoes. The paradoxical situation thus created 
should be changed and the declaring powers ought to 
assert whether they rely upon the rules governing a 
blockade or the rules applicable when no blockade 
exists. 

The declaration presents other perplexities. 

The last sentence quoted indicates that the rules of 
contraband are to be applied to cargoes detained. The 
rule covering non-contraband articles carried in neutral 
bottoms is that the cargo shall be released and the ships 
allowed to proceed. This rule can not, under the first 
sentence quoted, be applied as to destination. What, then, 
is to be done with a cargo of non-contraband goods 
detained under the declaration? The same question 
may be asked as to conditional contraband cargoes. 

The foregoing comments apply to cargoes destined 
for Germany. Cargoes coming out of German ports 
present another problem under the terms of the declara- 
tion. Under the rules governing enemy exports only 
goods owned by enemy subjects in enemy bottoms are 
subject to seizure and condemnation. Yet by the decla- 
ration it is purposed to seize and take into port all goods 
of enemy ' ' ownership and origin. ' ' The word ' ' origin ' ' 
is particularly significant. The origin of goods destined 
to neutral territory on neutral ships is not and never 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 221 

has been a ground for forfeiture, except in case a block- 
ade is declared and maintained. What, then, would 
the seizure amount to in the present case except to 
delay the delivery of the goods ? The declaration does 
not indicate what disposition would be made of such 
cargoes if owned by a neutral or if owned by an enemy 
subject. Would a different rule be applied according 
to ownership ? If so, upon what principles of interna- 
tional law would it rest? And upon what rule if no 
blockade is declared and maintained could the cargo of 
a neutral ship sailing out of a German port be con- 
demned? If it is not condemned, what other legal 
course is there but to release it ? 

While this Government is fully alive to the possibility 
that the methods of modern naval warfare, particularly 
in the use of the submarine for both defensive and 
offensive operations, may make the former means of 
maintaining a blockade a physical impossibility, it feels 
that it can be urged with great force that there should 
be also some limit to ' ' the radius of activity, ' ' and espe- 
cially so if this action by the belligerents can be con- 
strued to be a blockade. It would certainly create a 
serious state of affairs if, for example, an American 
vessel laden with a cargo of German origin should 
escape the British patrol in European waters only to be 
held up by a cruiser off New York and taken into 
Halifax. 

Similar cablegram sent to Paris. 



222 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

THE ATTITUDE OF FRANCE 

Ambassador Sharp to the Secretary of State 

American Embassy, 
Paris, March 14, 1915. 

French Government replies as follows : 

" In a letter dated March 7 Your Excellency was good 
enough to draw my attention to the views of the Govern- 
ment of the United States regarding the recent communi- 
cations from the French and British Governments con- 
cerning a restriction to be laid upon commerce with 
Germany. According to Your Excellency's letter, the 
declaration made by the Allied Governments presents 
some uncertainty as regards its application, concerning 
which the Government of the United States desires to be 
enlightened in order to determine what attitude it should 
take. 

"At the same time Your Excellency notified me that 
while granting the possibility of using new methods of 
retaliation against the new use to which submarines have 
been put, the Government of the United States was some- 
what apprehensive that the allied belligerents might (if 
their action is to be construed as constituting a blockade) 
capture in waters near America any ships which might 
have escaped the cruisers patrolling European waters. 
In acknowledging receipt of Your Excellency's commu- 
nication I have the honor to inform you that the Govern- 
ment of the Republic has not failed to consider this point 
as presented by the Government of the United States, and 
I beg to specify clearly the conditions of application, as 
far as my Government is concerned, of the declaration of 
the Allied Governments. As well set forth by the Federal 
Government the old methods of blockade can not be en- 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 223 

tirely adhered to in view of the use Germany has made 
of her submarines, and also by reason of the geographical 
situation of that country. In answer to the challenge 
to the neutral as well as to its own adversaries, contained 
in the declaration by which the German Imperial Gov- 
ernment stated that it considered the seas surrounding 
Great Britain and the French coast on the Channel as a 
military zone, and warned neutral vessels not to enter the 
same on account of the danger they would run, the Allied 
Governments have been obliged to examine what meas- 
ures they could adopt to interrupt all maritime commu- 
nication with the German Empire and thus keep it block- 
aded by the naval power of the two allies, at the same 
time, however, safeguarding as much as possible the legiti- 
mate interests of neutral powers, and respecting the laws 
of humanity, which no crime of their enemy will induce 
them to violate. 

"The Government of the Republic, therefore, reserves 
to itself the right of bringing into a French or allied port 
any ship carrying a cargo presumed to be of German 
origin, destination, or ownership, but it will not go to 
the length of seizing any neutral ship except in case of 
contraband. The discharged cargo shall not be confis- 
cated. In the event of a neutral proving his lawful own- 
ership of merchandise destined to Germany, he shall be 
entirely free to dispose of same, subject to certain condi- 
tions. In case the owner of the goods is a German they 
shall simply be sequestrated during the war. 

"Merchandise of enemy origin shall only be seques- 
trated when it is at the same time the property of an 
enemy ; merchandise belonging to neutrals shall be held 
at the disposal of its owner to be returned to the port of 
departure. 

"As Your Excellency will observe, these measures, 



224 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

while depriving the enemy of important resources, respect 
the rights of neutrals and will not in any way jeopardize 
private property, as even the enemy owner will only 
suffer from the suspension of the enjoyment of his rights 
during the term of hostilities. 

"The Government of the Republic, being desirous of 
allowing neutrals every facility to enforce their claims, 
has decided to give the prize court (an independent tri- 
bunal) cognizance of these questions, and in order to 
give the neutrals as little trouble as possible it has speci- 
fied that the prize court shall give sentence within eight 
days, counting from the date on which the case shall 
have been brought before it. 

"I do not doubt, Mr. Ambassador, that the Federal 
Government, comparing on the one hand the unspeak- 
able violence with which the German military government 
threatens neutrals, the criminal actions unknown in mari- 
time annals already perpetrated against neutral prop- 
erty and ships and even against the lives of neutral sub- 
jects or citizens, and on the other hand the measures 
adopted by the Allied Governments of Prance and Great 
Britain respecting the laws of humanity and the rights 
of individuals, will readily perceive that the latter have 
not overstepped their strict rights as belligerents. 

"Finally, I am anxious to assure you that it is not and 
it has never been the intention of the Government of th© 
Republic to extend the action of its cruisers against enemy 
merchandise beyond European seas, the Mediterranean 
included. ' ' 

Sharp. 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 225 

CHARGES AGAINST GERMANY 

Ambassador W. H. Page to the Secretary of State 

American Embassy, 
London, March 15, 1915. 

Following is the full text of a memorandum dated 
March 13, which Grey handed me today: 

"On the 22d of February last I received a communica- 
tion from Your ExceUency of the identic note addressed 
to His Majesty's Government and to Germany, respecting 
an agreement on certain points as to the conduct of the 
war at sea. The reply of the German Government to 
this note has been published and it is not understood from 
the reply that the German Government are prepared to 
abandon the practice of sinking British merchant vessels 
by submarines, and it is evident from their reply that 
they will not abandon the use of mines for offensive pur- 
poses on the high seas as contrasted with the use of mines 
for defensive purposes only within cannon range of their 
own harbors, as suggested by the Government of the 
United States. This being so, it might appear unneces- 
sary for the British Government to make any further 
reply than to take note of the German answer. We 
desire, however, to take the opportunity of making a 
fuller statement of the whole position and of our feeling 
with regard to it. We recognize with sympathy the 
desire of the Government of the United States to see the 
European war conducted in accordance with the previ- 
ously recognized rules of international law and the dic- 
tates of humanity. It is thus that the British forces have 
conducted the war, and we are not aware that these forces, 
either naval or military, can have laid to their charge 
any improper proceedings, either in the conduct of hos- 



226 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

tilities or in the treatment of prisoners or wounded. On 
the German side it has been very different. 

' ' 1. The treatment of civilian inhabitants in Belgium 
and the north of Prance has been made public by the 
Belgian and French Governments and by those who have 
had experience of it at first hand. Modern history 
affords no precedent for the sufferings that have been 
inflicted on the defenseless and noncombatant popula- 
tion in the territory that has been in German military 
occupation. Even the food of the population was confis- 
cated until in Belgium an International Commission, 
largely influenced by American generosity and con- 
ducted under American auspices, came to the relief of 
the population and secured from the German Government 
a promise to spare what food was still left in the country 
though the Germans still continue to make levies in money 
upon the defenseless population for the support of the 
German Army. 

' ' 2. We have from time to time received most terrible 
accounts of the barbarous treatment to which British 
officers and soldiers have been exposed after they have 
been taken prisoner, while being conveyed to German 
prison camps; one or two instances have already been 
given to the United States Government, founded upon 
authentic and first-hand evidence which is beyond doubt. 
Some evidence has been received of the hardships to 
which British prisoners of war are subjected in the prison 
camps, contrasting, we believe, most unfavorably with 
the treatment of German prisoners in this country. We 
have proposed, with the consent of the United States 
Government, that a commission of United States officers 
should be permitted in each country to inspect the treat- 
ment of prisoners of war. The United States Govern- 
ment have been unable to obtain any reply from the 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 227 

German Government to this proposal and we remain in 
continuing anxiety and apprehension as to the treatment 
of British prisoners of war in Germany. 

"3. At the very outset of the war a German mine 
layer was discovered laying a mine field on the high seas. 
Further mine fields have been laid from time to time with- 
out warning, and so far as we know are still being laid 
on the high seas, and many neutral as well as British 
vessels have been sunk by them. 

"4. At various times during the war German subma- 
rines have stopped and sunk British merchant vessels, 
thus making the sinking of merchant vessels a general 
practice, though it was admitted previously, if at all, 
only as an exception, the general rule to which the British 
Government have adhered being that merchant vessels, 
if captured, must be taken before a prize court. In one 
case already quoted in a note to the United States Gov- 
ernment, a neutral vessel carrying foodstuffs to an un- 
fortified town in Great Britain has been sunk. Another 
case is now reported in which a German armed cruiser 
has sunk an American vessel, the William P. Frye, carry- 
ing a cargo of wheat from Seattle to Queenstown. In 
both cases the cargoes were presumably destined for the 
civil population. Even the cargoes in such circumstances 
should not have been condemned without the decision of 
a prize court, much less should the vessels have been sunk. 
It is to be noted that both these cases occurred before the 
detention by the British authorities of the Wilhelmina 
and her cargo of foodstuffs, which the German Govern- 
ment allege is the justification for their own action. The 
Germans have announced their intention of sinking Brit- 
ish merchant vessels by torpedo without notice and with- 
out any provision for the safety of the crew. They have 
•already carried out this intention in the case of neutral 



228 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

as well as of British vessels, and a number of noneom- 
batant and innocent lives on British vessels, unarmed and 
defenseless, have been destroyed in this way. 

"5. Unfortified, open, and defenseless towns, such as 
Scarborough, Yarmouth, and Whitby, have been delib- 
erately and wantonly bombarded by German ships of war, 
causing in some cases considerable loss of civilian life, 
including women and children. 

' ' 6. German aircraft have dropped bombs on the east 
coast of England where there were no military or strate- 
gic points to be attacked. 

' ' On the other hand, I am aware of but two criticisms 
that have been made on British action in all these 
respects: (1) It is said that the British naval authori- 
ties also have laid some anchored mines on the high 
seas. They have done so, but the mines were anchored 
and so constructed that they would be harmless if they 
went adrift, and no mines whatever were laid by the 
British naval authorities till many weeks after the Ger- 
mans had made a regular practice of laying mines on 
the high seas. (2) It is said that the British Govern- 
ment have departed from the view of international law 
which they had previously maintained, that foodstuffs 
destined for the civil population should never be inter- 
fered with, this charge being founded on the submission 
to a prize court of the cargo of the Wilhelmina. The spe- 
cial considerations affecting this cargo have already been 
presented in a memorandum to the United States Gov- 
ernment, and I need not repeat them here. Inasmuch 
as the stoppage of all foodstuffs is an admitted conse- 
quence of blockade, it is obvious that there can be no uni- 
versal rule based on considerations of morality and hu- 
manity which is contrary to this practice. The right to 
stop foodstuffs destined for the civil population must 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 229 

therefore in any case be admitted if an effective 'cordon' 
controlling intercourse with the enemy is drawn, an- 
nounced, and maintained. Moreover, independently of 
rights arising from belligerent action in the nature of 
blockade, some other nations, differing from the opinion 
of the Governments of the United States and Great Brit- 
ain, have held that to stop the food of the civil population 
is a natural and legitimate method of bringing pressure 
to bear on an enemy country, as it is upon the defense of 
a besieged town. It is also upheld on the authority of 
both Prince Bismarck and Count Caprivi, and therefore 
presumably is not repugnant to German morality. The 
following are the quotations from Prince Bismarck and 
Count Caprivi on this point. Prince Bismarck, in an- 
swering, in 1885, an application from the Kiel Chamber 
of Commerce for a statement of the view of the German 
Government on the question of the right to declare as 
contraband foodstuffs that were not intended for military 
forces, said, "I reply to the chamber of commerce that 
any disadvantage our commercial and carrying interests 
may suffer by the treatment of rice as contraband of war 
does not justify our opposing a measure which it has been 
thought fit to take in carrying on a foreign war. Every 
war is a calamity which entails evil consequences, not 
only on the combatants but also on neutrals. These evils 
may easily be increased by the interference of a neutral 
power with the way in which a third carries on the war 
to the disadvantage of the subjects of the interfering 
power, and by this means German commerce might be 
weighted with far heavier losses than a transitory pro- 
hibition of the rice trade in Chinese waters. The measure 
in question has for its object the shortening of the war by 
increasing the difficulties of the enemy, and is a justifiable 
step in war if impartially enforced against all neutral 



230 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

ships. ' Count Caprivi, during a discussion in the German 
Eeichstag on the 4th of March, 1892, on the subject of the 
importance of international protection for private prop- 
erty at sea, made the following statements: 'A country 
may be dependent for her food or for her raw products 
upon her trade. In fact, it may be absolutely necessary 
to destroy the enemy's trade.' * * * 'The private 
introduction of provisions into Paris was prohibited 
during the siege, and in the same way a nation would be 
justified in preventing the import of food and raw prod- 
uce. ' The Government of Great Britain have frankly 
declared, in concert with the Government of France, their 
intention to meet the German attempt to stop all supplies 
of every kind from leaving or entering British or French 
ports by themselves stopping supplies going to or from 
Germany for this end. The British fleet has instituted 
a blockade, effectively controlling by cruiser ' cordon ' all 
passage to and from Germany by sea. The difference 
between the two policies is, however, that while our object 
is the same as that of Germany, we propose to attain it 
without sacrificing neutral ships or noncombatant lives 
or inflicting upon neutrals the damage that must be en- 
tailed when a vessel and its cargo are sunk without notice, 
examination, or trial. I must emphasize again that this 
measure is a natural and necessary consequence of the 
unprecedented methods, repugnant to all law and moral- 
ity, which have been described above, which Germany 
began to adopt at the very outset of the war, and the 
effects of which have been constantly accumulating." 



HISTOKY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 231 

SALES OF MUNITIONS 

Secretary of State Bryan to the German Ambassador 

[On April 4, 1915, the German Ambassador at Wash- 
ington, Count J. von Bernstorff, addressed a note to the 
Secretary of State on German- American trade and the 
question of delivery of arms to the Allies. Mr. Bryan's 
reply was as follows:] 

Department of State, 
EXCELLENCY: Washington, April 21, 1915. 

I have given thoughtful consideration to your Excel- 
lency's note of the 4th of April, 1915, enclosing a mem- 
orandum of the same date, in which Your Excellency 
discusses the action of this Government with regard to 
trade between the United States and Germany and the 
attitude of this Government with regard to the exporta- 
tion of arms from the United States to the nations now 
at war with Germany. 

I must admit that I am somewhat at a loss how to inter- 
pret Your Excellency's treatment of these matters. There 
are many circumstances connected with these important 
subjects to which I would have expected Your Excellency 
to advert, but of which you make no mention, and there 
are other circumstances to which you do refer which I 
would have supposed to be hardly appropriate for dis- 
cussion between the Government of the United States and 
the Government of Germany. 

I shall take the liberty, therefore, of regarding Your 
Excellency's references to the course pursued by the 
Government of the United States with regard to inter- 
ferences with trade from this country, such as the Gov- 
ernment of Great Britain have attempted, as intended 
merely to illustrate more fully the situation to which you 
desire to call our attention and not as an invitation to 



232 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

discuss that course. Your Excellency's long experience 
in international affairs will have suggested to you that 
the relations of the two Governments with one another 
can not wisely be made a subject of discussion with a 
third Government, which can not be fully informed as to 
the facts and which can not be fully cognizant of the 
reasons for the course pursued. I believe, however, that 
I am justified in assuming that what you desire to call 
forth is a frank statement of the position of this Govern- 
ment in regard to its obligations as a neutral power. 
The general attitude and course of policy of this Gov- 
ernment in the maintenance of its neutrality I am par- 
ticularly anxious that Your Excellency should see in 
their true light. I had hoped that this Government's 
position in these respects had been made abundantly 
clear, but I am of course perfectly willing to state it 
again. This seems to me the more necessary and desira- 
ble because, I regret to say, the language which Your 
Excellency employs in your memorandum is susceptible 
of being construed as impugning the good faith of the 
United States in the performance of its duties as a neu- 
tral. I take it for granted that no such implication was 
intended, but it is so evident that Your Excellency is 
laboring under certain false impressions that I can not 
be too explicit in setting forth the facts as they are, when 
fully reviewed and comprehended. 

In the first place, this Government has at no time and 
in no manner yielded any one of its rights as a neutral to 
any of the present belligerents. It has acknowledged, 
as a matter of course, the right of visit and search and the 
right to apply the rules of contraband of war to articles 
of commerce. It has, indeed, insisted upon the use of 
visit and search as an absolutely necessary safeguard 
against mistaking neutral vessels for vessels owned by an 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 233 

enemy and against mistaking legal cargoes for illegal. 
It has admitted also the right of blockade if actually ex- 
ercised and effectively maintained. These are merely 
the well-known limitations which war places upon neutral 
commerce on the high seas. But nothing beyond these 
has it conceded. I call Your Excellency 's attention to 
this, notwithstanding it is already known to all the world 
as a consequence of the publication of our correspond- 
ence in regard to these matters with several of the bellig- 
erent nations, because I can not assume that you have 
official cognizance of it. 

In the second place, this Government attempted to 
secure from the German and British Governments mutual 
concessions with regard to the measures those Govern- 
ments respectively adopted for the interruption of trade 
on the high seas. This it did, not of right, but merely 
as exercising the privileges of a sincere friend of both 
parties and as indicating its impartial good will. The 
attempt was unsuccessful; but I regret that Your Ex- 
cellency did not deem it worthy of mention in modifica- 
tion of the impressions you expressed. We had hoped that 
this act on our part had shown our spirit in these times 
of distressing war as our diplomatic correspondence had 
shown our steadfast refusal to acknowledge the right of 
any belligerent to alter the accepted rules of war at sea in 
so far as they affect the rights and interests of neutrals. 

In the third place, I note with sincere regret that, in 
discussing the sale and exportation of arms by citizens of 
the United States to the enemies of Germany, Your Ex- 
cellency seems to be under the impression that it was 
within the choice of the Government of the United States, 
notwithstanding its professed neutrality and its diligent 
efforts to maintain it in other particulars, to inhibit this 
trade, and that its failure to do so manifested an unfair 



234 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

attitude toward Germany. This Government holds, as I 
believe Your Excellency is aware, and as it is constrained 
to hold in view of the present indisputable doctrines of 
accepted international law, that any change in its own 
laws of neutrality during the progress of a war which 
would affect unequally the relations of the United States 
with the nations at war would be an unjustifiable depart- 
ure from the principles of strict neutrality by which it has 
consistently sought to direct its actions, and I respectfully 
submit that none of the circumstances urged in Your 
Excellency's memorandum alters the principle involved. 
The placing of an embargo on the trade in arms at the 
present time would constitute such a change and be a 
direct violation of the neutrality of the United States. It 
will, I feel assured, be clear to Your Excellency that, 
holding this view and considering itself in honor bound 
by it, it is out of the question for this Government to 
consider such a course. 

I hope that Your Excellency will realize the spirit in 
which I am drafting this reply. The friendship between 
the people of the United States and the people of Ger- 
many is so warm and of such long standing, the ties which 
bind them to one another in amity are so many and so 
strong, that this Government feels under a special com- 
pulsion to speak with perfect frankness when any occa- 
sion arises which seems likely to create any misunder- 
standing, however slight or temporary, between those 
who represent the Governments of the two countries. It 
will be a matter of gratification to me if I have removed 
from Your Excellency's mind any misapprehension you 
may have been under regarding either the policy or the 
spirit and purposes of the Government of the United 
States. Its neutrality is founded upon the firm basis 
of conscience and good will. "W. J. Bryan. 



HISTOKY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 235 

WHEN THE LUSITANIA WAS SUNK 

Secretary of State Bryan to Ambassador Gerard 

Department of State, 
Washington, May 13, 1915. 

Please call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs and after 
reading to him this communication leave with him a copy. 

In view of recent acts of the German authorities in vio- 
lation cf American rights on the high seas which cul- 
minated in the torpedoing and sinking of the British 
steamship Lusitania on May 7, 1915, by which over 100 
American citizens lost their lives, it is clearly wise and 
desirable that the Government of the United States and 
the Imperial German Government should come to a clear 
and full understanding as to the grave situation which 
has resulted. 

The sinking of the British passenger steamer Falaba 
by a German submarine on March 28, through which 
Leon C. Thrasher, an American citizen, was drowned; 
the attack on April 28 on the American vessel Cushing by 
a German aeroplane; the torpedoing on May 1 of the 
American vessel Gulflight by a German submarine, as a 
result of which two or more American citizens met their 
death; and, finally, the torpedoing and sinking of the 
steamship Lusitania, constitute a series of events which 
the Government of the United States has observed with 
growing concern, distress, and amazement. 

Recalling the humane and enlightened attitude hitherto 
assumed by the Imperial German Government in mat- 
ters of international right, and particularly with regard 
to the freedom of the seas; having learned to recognize 
the German views and the German influence in the field 



236 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

of international obligation as always engaged upon the 
side of justice and humanity ; and having understood the 
instructions of the Imperial German Government to its 
naval commanders to be upon the same plane of humane 
action prescribed by the naval codes of other nations, the 
Government of the United States was loath to believe — 
it can not now bring itself to believe — that these acts, so 
absolutely contrary to the rules, the practices, and the 
spirit of modern warfare, could have the countenance or 
sanction of that great Government. It feels it to be its 
duty, therefore, to address the Imperial German Gov- 
ernment concerning them with the utmost frankness and 
in the earnest hope that it is not mistaken in expecting 
action on the part of the Imperial German Government 
which will correct the unfortunate impressions which 
have been created and vindicate once more the position 
of that Government with regard to the sacred freedom 
of the seas. 

The Government of the United States has been apprised 
that the Imperial German Government considered them- 
selves to be obliged by the extraordinary circumstances 
of the present war and the measures adopted by their 
adversaries in seeking to cut Germany off from all com- 
merce, to adopt methods of retaliation which go much 
beyond the ordinary methods of warfare at sea, in the 
proclamation of a war zone from which they have warned 
neutral ships to keep away. This Government has al- 
ready taken occasion to inform the Imperial German 
Government that it can not admit the adoption of such 
measures or such a warning of danger to operate as in any 
degree an abbreviation of the rights of American ship- 
masters or of American citizens bound on lawful errands 
as passengers on merchant ships of belligerent nation- 
ality; and that it must hold the Imperial German Gov- 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 237 

ernment to a strict accountability for any infringement 
of those rights, intentional or incidental. It does not under- 
stand the Imperial German Government to question those 
rights. It assumes, on the contrary, that the Imperial 
Government accept, as of course, the rule that the lives 
of noncombatants, whether they be of neutral citizenship 
or citizens of one of the nations at war, can not lawfully 
or rightfully be put in jeopardy by the capture or destruc- 
tion of an unarmed merchantman, and recognize also, as 
all other nations do, the obligation to take the usual pre- 
caution of visit and search to ascertain whether a sus- 
pected merchantman is in fact of belligerent nationality 
or is in fact carrying contraband of war under a neutral 
flag. 

The Government of the United States, therefore, desires 
to call the attention of the Imperial German Government 
with the utmost earnestness to the fact that the objection 
to their present method of attack against the trade of their 
enemies lies in the practical impossibility of employing 
submarines in the destruction of commerce without dis- 
regarding those rules of fairness, reason, justice, and 
humanity, which all modern opinion regards as impera- 
tive. It is practically impossible for the officers of a 
submarine to visit a merchantman at sea and examine 
her papers and cargo. It is practically impossible for 
them to make a prize of her ; and, if they can not put a 
prize crew on board of her, they can not sink her with- 
out leaving her crew and all on board of her to the mercy 
of the sea in her small boats. These facts it is under- 
stood the Imperial German Government frankly admit. 
"We are informed that in the instances of which we have 
spoken time enough for even that poor measure of safety 
was not given, and in at least two of the cases cited not 
so much as a warning was received. Manifestly sub- 



238 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

marines can not be used against merchantmen, as the last 
few weeks have shown, without an inevitable violation 
of many sacred principles of justice and humanity. 

American citizens act within their indisputable rights 
in taking their ships and in traveling wherever their 
legitimate business calls them upon the high seas, and 
exercise those rights in what should be the well- justified 
confidence that their lives will not be endangered by acts 
done in clear violation of universally acknowledged inter- 
national obligations, and certainly in the confidence that 
their own Government will sustain them in the exercise 
of their rights. 

There was recently published in the newspapers of the 
United States, I regret to inform the Imperial German 
Government, a formal warning, purporting to come from 
the Imperial German Embassy at Washington, addressed 
to the people of the United States, and stating, in effect, 
that any citizen of the United States who exercised his 
right of free travel upon the seas would do so at his peril 
if his journey should take him within the zone of waters 
within which the Imperial German Navy was using sub- 
marines against the commerce of Great Britain and 
France, notwithstanding the respectful but very earnest 
protest of his Government, the Government of the United 
States. I do not refer to this for the purpose of calling 
the attention of the Imperial German Government at this 
time to the surprising irregularity of a communication 
from the Imperial German Embassy at Washington ad- 
dressed to the people of the United States through the 
newspapers, but only for the purpose of pointing out that 
no warning that an unlawful and inhumane act will be 
committed can possibly be accepted as an excuse or pal- 
liation for that act or as an abatement of the responsi- 
bility for its commission. 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 239 

Long acquainted as this Government has been with 
the character of the Imperial German Government and 
with the high principles of equity by which they have in 
the past been actuated and guided, the Government of 
the United States can not believe that the commanders 
of the vessels which committed these acts of lawlessness 
did so except under a misapprehension of the orders 
issued hy the Imperial German naval authorities. It 
takes it for granted that, at least within the practical 
possibilities of every such case, the commanders even of 
submarines were expected to do nothing that would in- 
volve the lives of noncombatants or the safety of neutral 
ships, even at the cost of failing of their object of capture 
or destruction. It confidently expects, therefore, that 
the Imperial German Government will disavow the acts 
of which the Government of the United States complains, 
that they will make reparation so far as reparation is 
possible for injuries which are without measure, and that 
they will take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence 
of anything so obviously subversive of the principles of 
warfare for which the Imperial German Government 
have in the past so wisely and so firmly contended. 

The Government and the people of the United States 
look to the Imperial German Government for just, 
prompt, and enlightened action in this vital matter with 
the greater confidence because the United States and 
Germany are bound together not only by special ties of 
friendship but also by the explicit stipulations of the 
treaty of 1828 between the United States and the King- 
dom of Prussia. 

Expressions of regret and offers of reparation in case 
of the destruction of neutral ships sunk by mistake, 
while they may satisfy international obligations, if no 
loss of life results, can nob justify or excuse a practice, 



240 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

the natural and necessary effect of which is to subject 
neutral nations and neutral persons to new and immeas- 
urable risks. 

The Imperial German Government will not expect 
the Government of the United States to omit any word 
or any act necessary to the performance of its sacred 
duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and 
its citizens and of safeguarding their free exercise and 
enjoyment. 

Bryan. 



VERDICT OF CORONER'S JURY IN THE 
LUSITANIA CASE 

The Cunard line steamship Lusitania, having a ton- 
nage of 32,500, a length of 785 feet and a speed of nearly 
twenty-five knots an hour, making it one of the largest 
and swiftest passenger vessels ever launched, was tor- 
pedoed and sunk by a German submarine off the south- 
eastern coast of Ireland May 7, 1915, with a loss of 1,198 
lives. Of the victims 102 were Americans ; the remainder 
were British or other foreign subjects. 

A coroner's inquest was held at Kinsale, Ireland, on 
May 10, on some of the bodies brought ashore in small 
boats, and the verdict of the jury was as follows: 

"We find that the deceased met death from prolonged 
immersion and exhaustion in the sea eight miles south- 
southwest of Old Head of Kinsale Friday, May 7, 1915, 
owing to the sinking of the Lusitania by torpedoes fired 
by a German submarine. 

"We find that this appalling crime was committed 
contrary to international law and the conventions of all 
civilized nations. 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 241 

"We also charge the officers of said submarine and the 
Emperor and Government of Germany, under whose 
orders they acted, with the crime of wholesale murder 
before the tribunal of the civilized world. 

"We desire to express sincere condolences and sym- 
pathy with the relatives of the deceased, the Cunard Com- 
pany and the United States, many of whose citizens per- 
ished in this murderous attack on an unarmed liner. ' ' 



GERMAN STATEMENT ON THE LUSI- 
TANIA SINKING- 

The following message issued by the German Foreign 
Office in Berlin May 10 was delivered by the German 
Ambassador, Count von Bernstorff, to William J. Bryan, 
Secretary of State, in Washington, May 11: 

"Please communicate the following to the State De- 
partment : 

"The German Government desires to express its deep- 
est sympathy at the loss of lives on board the Lusitania. 
The responsibility rests, however, with the British Gov- 
ernment, which through its plan of starving the civilian 
population of Germany has forced Germany to resort to 
retaliatory measures. 

"In spite of the German offer to stop the submarine 
war in case the starvation plan was given up, British mer- 
chant vessels are being generally armed with guns and 
have repeatedly tried to ram submarines, so that a pre- 
vious search was impossible. 

"They cannot, therefore, be treated as ordinary mer- 
chant vessels. A recent declaration made to the British 
Parliament by the Parliamentary Secretary in answer to 
a question by Lord Charles Beresford said that at the 



242 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

present practically all British merchant vessels were 
armed and provided with hand grenades. 

"Besides, it has been openly admitted by the English 
press that the Lusitania on previous voyages repeatedly 
carried large quantities of war material. On the present 
voyage the Lusitania carried 5,400 cases of ammunition, 
while the rest of the cargo also consisted chiefly of con- 
traband. 

"If England, after repeated official and unofficial 
warnings, considered herself able to declare that that 
boat ran no risk and thus lightheartedly assumed respon- 
sibility for the human life on board a steamer which, 
owing to its armament and cargo, was liable to destruc- 
tion, the German Government, in spite of its heartfelt 
sympathy for the loss of American lives, cannot but regret 
that Americans felt more inclined to trust to English 
promises rather than to pay attention to the warnings 
from the German side." 



BEITISH REPLY TO THE FOREGOING 

In reply to the above German defense of the sinking 
of the Lusitania the following official statement was trans- 
mitted to the State Department May 11 : 

"The German Government states that responsibility 
for the loss of the Lusitania rests with the British Govern- 
ment, which, through its plan of starving the civil popu- 
lation of Germany, has forced Germany to resort to retal- 
iatory measures. The reply to this is as follows : 

"The German Government on February 4 declared 
their intention of instituting a general submarine block- 
ade of Great Britain and Ireland, with the avowed pur- 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 243 

pose of cutting off supplies for these islands. This block- 
ade was put into effect February 18. 

"As already stated, merchant vessels had, as a matter 
of fact, been sunk by a German submarine at the end of 
January. Before February 4 no vessel carrying food 
supplies for Germany had been held up by his majesty's 
government, except on the ground that there was reason 
to believe the foodstuffs were intended for use of the 
armed forces of the enemy or the enemy government. 

"The decision of his majesty's government to carry 
out the measures laid down by the order in council was 
due to the action of the German Government in insisting 
on their submarine blockade. 

' ' This, added to other infractions of international law 
by Germany, led to British reprisals. 

' ' The Germans state that, in spite of their offer to stop 
their submarine war in case the starvation plan was 
given up, Great Britain has taken even more stringent 
blockade measures. The answer to this is as follows : 

' ' It was not understood from the reply of the German 
Government that they were prepared to abandon the prin- 
ciple of sinking British vessels by submarine. They have 
refused to abandon the use of mines for offensive pur- 
poses on the high seas on any condition. They have com- 
mitted various other infractions of international law, such 
as strewing the high seas and trade routes with mines, 
and British and neutral vessels will continue to run dan- 
ger from this course whether Germany abandons her 
submarine blockade or not. 

"The Germans represent British merchant vessels gen- 
erally as armed with guns and say that they repeatedly 
ram submarines. The answer to this is as follows : 

"It is not to be wondered at that merchant vessels, 
knowing they are liable to be sunk without warning and 



244 IliSTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

without any chance being given those on board to save 
their lives, should take measures for self-defense. With 
regard to the Lusitania, the vessel was not armed on her 
last voyage and had not been armed during the whole war. 

"The Germans attempt to justify the sinking of the 
Lusitania by the fact that she had arms and ammunition 
on board. The presence of contraband on board a neutral 
vessel does render her liable to capture, but certainly not 
to destruction with the loss of a large portion of her crew 
and passengers. 

' ' The Germans maintain that after repeated official and 
unofficial warnings his majesty's government were re- 
sponsible for the loss of life, as they considered themselves 
able to declare that the boat ran no risk, and thus 'light- 
heartedly assume the responsibility for the human lives on 
board a steamer which, owing to its armaments and cargo, 
is liable to destruction. ' The reply thereto is : 

"First. His majesty's government never declared the 
boat ran no risk. 

"Second. The fact that the Germans issued their 
warning shows that the crime was premeditated. They 
had no more right to murder passengers after warning 
jJHan before. 

"Third. In spite of their attempts to put the blame 
on Great Britain, it will tax the ingenuity even of the 
Germans to explain away the fact that it was a German 
torpedo, fired by a German seaman from a German sub- 
marine that sank the vessel and caused over 1,000 
deaths. ' ' 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 245 

SECOND LUSITANIA NOTE 

The Secretary of State ad Interim to Ambassador 
Gerard at Berlin 

[This was the Lusitania note, written by President Wilson, and 
dispatched to Berlin June 9, which caused the resignation of 
Mr. Bryan as Secretary of State on the previous day. He dis- 
agreed with the President as to the tone to be adopted toward 
Germany.] 

Department of State, 
Washington, June 9, 1915. 

American Ambassador, Berlin : You are instructed to 
deliver textually the following note to the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs : 

In compliance with Your Excellency's request, I did 
not fail to transmit to my Government immediately upon 
their receipt your note of May 28 in reply to my note of 
May 15, and your supplementary note of June 1, setting 
forth the conclusions so far as reached by the Imperial 
German Government concerning the attacks on the Amer- 
ican steamers Cushing and Gul flight. I am now in- 
structed by my Government to communicate the following 
in reply: 

The Government of the United States notes with grati- 
fication the full recognition by the Imperial German Gov- 
ernment, in discussing the cases of the Cushing and Gulf- 
light, of the principle of the freedom of all parts of the 
open sea to neutral ships and the frank willingness of the 
Imperial German Government to acknowledge and meet 
its liability where the fact of attack upon neutral ships 
"which have not been guilty of any hostile act" by Ger- 
man aircraft or vessels of war is satisfactorily established, 
and the Government of the United States will in due 
course lay before the Imperial German Government, as 



246 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

it requests, full information concerning the attack on the 
steamer Cushing. 

With regard to the sinking of the steamer Falaba, by 
which an American citizen lest his life, the Government 
of the United States is surprised to find the Imperial 
German Government contending that an effort on the 
part of a merchantman to escape capture and secure 
assistance alters the obligation of the officer seeking to 
make the capture in respect of the safety of the lives of 
those on board the merchantman, although the vessel had 
ceased her attempt to escape when torpedoed. These are 
not new circumstances. They have been in the minds of 
statesmen and of international jurists throughout the 
development of naval warfare, and the Government of 
the United States does not understand that they have 
ever been held to alter the principles of humanity upon 
which it has insisted. Nothing but actual forcible resist- 
ance or continued efforts to escape by flight when ordered 
to stop for the purpose of visit on the part of the mer- 
chantman has ever been held to forfeit the lives of her 
passengers or crew. The Government of the United 
States, however, does not understand that the Imperial 
German Government is seeking in this case to relieve itself 
of liability, but only intends to set forth the circumstances 
which led the commander of the submarine to allow him- 
self to be hurried into the course which he took. 

Your Excellency's note, in discussing the loss of Ameri- 
can lives resulting from the sinking of the steamship 
Lusitania, adverts at some length to certain information 
which the Imperial German Government has received 
with regard to the character and outfit of that vessel, and 
Your Excellency expresses the fear that this information 
may not have been brought to the attention of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States. It is stated in the note 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 217 

that the Lusitania was undoubtedly equipped with 
masked guns, supplied with trained gunners and special 
ammunition, transporting troops from Canada, carry- 
ing a cargo not permitted under the laws of the United 
States to a vessel also carrying passengers, and serving, 
in virtual effect, as an auxiliary to the naval forces of 
Great Britain. Fortunately these are matters concern- 
ing which the Government of the United States is in a 
position to give the Imperial German Government official 
information. Of the facts alleged in Your Excellency's 
note, if true, the Government of the United States would 
have been bound to take official cognizance in performing 
its recognized duty as a neutral power and in enforcing 
its national laws. It was its duty to see to it that the 
Lusitania was not armed for offensive action, that she was 
not serving as a transport, that she did not carry a cargo 
prohibited by the statutes of the United States, and that, 
if in fact she was a naval vessel of Great Britain, she 
should not receive clearance as a merchantman, and it per- 
formed that duty and enforced its statutes with scrupu- 
lous vigilance through its regularly constituted officials. 
It is able, therefore, to assure the Imperial German Gov- 
ernment that it has been misinformed. If the Imperial 
German Government should deem itself to be in posses- 
sion of convincing evidence that the officials of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States did not perform these duties 
with thoroughness the Government of the United States 
sincerely hopes that it will submit that evidence for con- 
sideration. 

Whatever may be the contentions of the Imperial Ger- 
man Government regarding the carriage of contraband 
of war on board the Lusitania: or regarding the explosion 
of that material by the torpedo, it need only be said that 
in the view of this Government these contentions are 



248 HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

irrelevant to the question of the legality of the methods 
used by the German naval authorities in sinking the 
vessel. 

But the sinking of passenger ships involves principles 
of humanity which throw into the background any special 
circumstances of detail that may be thought to affect the 
cases, principles which lift it, as the Imperial German 
Government will no doubt be quick to recognize and 
acknowledge, out of the class of ordinary subjects of dip- 
lomatic discussion or of international controversy. What- 
ever be the other facts regarding the Lusitania, the prin- 
cipal fact is that a great steamer, primarily and chiefly 
a conveyance for passengers, and carrying more than a 
thousand souls who had no part or lot in the conduct of 
the war, was torpedoed and sunk without so much as a 
challenge or a warning, and that men, women and chil- 
dren were sent to their death in circumstances unparal- 
leled in modern warfare. The fact that more than one 
hundred American citizens were among those who per- 
ished made it the duty of the Government of the United 
States to speak of these things and once more, with solemn 
emphasis, to call the attention of the Imperial German 
Government to the grave responsibility which the Gov- 
ernment of the United States conceives that it has in- 
curred in this tragic occurrence, and to the indisputable 
principle upon which that responsibility rests. The Gov- 
ernment of the United States is contending for something 
much greater than mere rights of property or privileges 
of commerce. It is contending for nothing less high and 
sacred than the rights of humanity, which every gov- 
ernment honors itself in respecting and which no govern- 
ment is justified in resigning on behalf of those under its 
care and authority. Only her actual resistance to cap- 
ture or refusal to stop when ordered to do so for the pur- 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 249 

pose of visit could have afforded the commander of the 
submarine any justification for so much as putting the 
lives of those on board the ship in jeopardy. This prin- 
ciple the Government of the United States understands 
the explicit instructions issued on August 3, 1914, by the 
Imperial German Admiralty to its commanders at sea to 
have recognized and embodied, as do the naval codes of all 
other nations, and upon it every traveler and seaman had 
a right to depend. It is upon this principle of humanity 
as well as upon the law founded upon this principle that 
the United States must stand. 

The Government of the United States is happy to 
observe that Your Excellency's note closes with the inti- 
mation that the Imperial German Government is willing, 
now as before, to accept the good offices of the United 
States in an attempt to come to an understanding with 
the Government of Great Britain by which the character 
and conditions of the war upon the sea may be changed. 
The Government of the United States would consider it a 
privilege thus to, serve its friends and the world. It 
stands ready at any time to convey to either government 
any intimation or suggestion the other may be willing to 
have it convey, and cordially invites the Imperial German 
Government to make use of its services in this way at its 
convenience. The whole world is concerned in anything 
that may bring about even a partial accommodation of 
interests or in any way mitigate the terrors of the present 
distressing conflict. 

In the meantime, whatever arrangement may happily 
be made between the parties to the war, and whatever 
may in the opinion of the Imperial German Government 
have been the provocation or the circumstantial justifica- 
tion for the past acts of its commanders at sea, the Gov- 
ernment of the United States confidently looks to see the 



250 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

justice and humanity of the Government of Germany vin- 
dicated in all cases where Americans have been wronged 
or their rights as neutrals invaded. 

The Government of the United States therefore very 
earnestly and very solemnly renews the representations 
of its note transmitted to the Imperial German Govern- 
ment on the 15th of May, and relies in these representa- 
tions upon the principles of humanity, the universally 
nized understandings of international law and the 
ancient friendship of the German nation. 

The Government of the United States cannot admit that 
the proclamation of a war zone from which neutral ships 
have been warned to keep away be made to operate as in 
any degree an abbreviation of the rights either of xVmeri- 
can shipmasters or of American citizens bound on lawful 
errands as passengers on merchant ships of belligerent 
nationality. It does not understand the Imperial Ger- 
man Government to question those rights. It understands 
it also to accept as established beyond question the prin- 
ciple that the lives of noncombatants cannot lawfully or 
rightfully be put in jeopardy by the capture or destruc- 
tion of an unresisting merchantman, and to recognize the 
obligation to take sufficient precaution to ascertain 
whether a suspected merchantman is in fact of belligerent 
nationality or is in fact carrying contraband of war under 
a neutral flag. The Government of the United States 
therefore deems it reasonable to expect that the Imperial 
German Government will adopt the measures necessary 
to put these principles into practice in respect of the safe- 
guarding of American lives and American ships, and asks 
for assurances that this will be done. 

Robert Lansing 
Secretary of State ad Interim. 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 251 

GERMANY'S REPLY A MONTH LATER 

The German Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Ameri- 
can Ambassador at Berlin 

Foreign Office, Berlin, July 8, 1915. 

The undersigned has the honor to make the following 
reply to the note of His Excellency Mr. James W. 
Gerard,- Ambassador of the United States of America, 
dated the 10th ultimo, Foreign Office No. 3814, on the sub- 
ject of the impairment of American interests by the 
German submarine war: 

The Imperial Government has learned with satisfaction 
from the note how earnestly the Government of the 
United States is concerned in seeing the principles of 
humanity realized in the present war. Also, this appeal 
meets with full sympathy in Germany, and the Imperial 
Government is quite willing to permit its statements and 
decisions in the case under consideration to be governed 
by the principles of humanity just as it has done always. 

The Imperial Government welcomed it with gratitude 
when the American Government in its note of May 15, 
1915, itself recalled that Germany had always permitted 
itself to be governed by the principles of progress and 
humanity in dealing with the law of maritime war. Since 
the time when Frederick the Great negotiated with John 
Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson the 
treaty of friendship and commerce of September 10, 1785, 
between Prussia and the republic of the "West, German 
and American statesmen have in fact always stood to- 
gether in the struggle for the freedom of the seas and for 
the protection of peaceable trade. In the international 
proceedings which have since been conducted for the 
regulation of the right of maritime war Germany and 



252 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

America have jointly advocated progressive principles, 
especially the abolishment of the right of capture at sea 
and the protection of the interests of neutrals. Even 
at the beginning of the present war the German Govern- 
ment immediately declared its willingness, in response 
to the proposal of the American Government, to ratify 
the Declaration of London and thereby to subject itself, 
in the use of its naval forces, to all the restrictions pro- 
vided therein in favor of neutrals. Germany has like- 
wise been always tenacious of the principle that war 
should be conducted against the armed and organized 
forces of the enemy country, but that the civilian pop- 
ulation of the enemy must be spared as far as possible 
from the measures of war. The Imperial Government 
cherishes the definite hope -that some way will be found 
when peace is concluded, or perhaps earlier, to regulate 
the law of maritime war in a manner guaranteeing the 
freedom of the seas, and will welcome it with gratitude 
and satisfaction if it can work hand in hand with the 
American Government on that occasion. 

If in the present war the principles which should be 
the ideal of the future have been traversed more and 
more the longer its duration, the German Government 
has no guilt therein. 

It is known to the American Government how Ger- 
many's adversaries, by completely paralyzing peaceable 
traffic between Germany and the neutral countries, have 
aimed from the very beginning, and with increasing lack 
of consideration, at the destruction not so much of the 
armed forces as the life of the German nation, repudiat- 
ing in so doing all the rules of international law and dis- 
regarding all the rights of neutrals. On November 3, 
1914, England declared the North Sea to be a war area, 
and by planting poorly anchored mines and the stoppage 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 253 

and capture of vessels made passage extremely dangerous 
and difficult for neutral shipping, so that it is actually 
blockading neutral coasts and ports, contrary to all inter- 
national law. Long before the beginning of the sub- 
marine war England practically completely intercepted 
legitimate neutral navigation to Germany also. Thus 
Germany was driven to submarine war on trade. On 
November 16, 1914, the English Prime Minister declared 
in the House of Commons that it was one of England's 
principal tasks to prevent food for the German popula- 
tion from reaching Germany by way of neutral ports. 
Since March 1 of this year England has been taking from 
neutral ships without further formality all merchandise 
proceding to Germany, as well as all merchandise 
coming from Germany, even when neutral property. Just 
as was the case with the Boers, the German people is now 
to be given the choice of perishing from starvation, with 
its women and children, or of relinquishing its inde- 
pendence. 

While our enemies thus loudly and openly have pro- 
claimed war without mercy until our utter destruction, we 
are conducting war in self-defense for our national exist- 
ence and for the sake of peace of assured permanency. 
We have been obliged to adopt submarine warfare to meet 
the declared intentions of our enemies and the method 
of warfare adopted by them in contravention of interna- 
tional law. 

With all its efforts in principle to protect neutral life 
and property from damage as much as possible, the Ger- 
man Government recognized unreservedly in its memo- 
randum of February 4 that the interests of neutrals might 
suffer from submarine warfare. However, the American 
Government will also understand and appreciate that in 
the fight for existence which has been forced upon Ger- 



254 HISTOKY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

many by its adversaries and announced by them, it is the 
sacred duty of the Imperial Government to do all within 
its power to protect and to save the lives of German sub- 
jects. If the Imperial Government were derelict in these, 
its duties, it would be guilty before God and history of the 
violation of those principles of the highest humanity 
which are the foundation of every national existence. 

The case of the Lusitania shows with horrible clearness 
to what jeopardizing of human lives the manner of con- 
ducting war employed by our adversaries leads. In most 
direct contradiction of international law, all distinctions 
between merchantmen and war vessels have been obliter- 
ated by the order to British merchantmen to arm them- 
selves and to ram submarines and the promise of rewards 
therefor, and neutrals who use merchantmen as travelers 
have thereby been exposed in an increasing degree to all 
the dangers of war. If the commander of the German 
submarine which destroyed the Lusitania had caused the 
crew and travelers to put out in boats before firing the 
torpedo this would have meant the sure destruction of his 
own vessel. After the experiences in the sinking of much 
smaller and less seaworthy vessels it was to be expected 
that a mighty ship like the Lusitania would remain above 
water long enough, even after the torpedoing, to permit 
the passengers to enter the ship 's boats. Circumstances 
of a very peculiar kind, especially the presence on board 
of large quantities of highly explosive materials, defeated 
this expectation. In addition, it may be pointed out that 
if the Lusitania had been spared thousands of cases of 
ammunition would have been sent to Germany 's enemies 
and thereby thousands of German mothers and children 
robbed of their supporters. 

In the spirit of friendship with which the German 
nation has been imbued toward the union and its inhab- 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 255 

itauts since the earliest days of its existence, the Imperial 
Government will always be ready to do all it can, during 
the present war also, to prevent the jeopardizing of the 
lives of American citizens. 

The Imperial Government therefore repeats the assur- 
ances that American ships will not be hindered in the 
prosecution of legitimate shipping, and the lives of Ameri- 
can citizens on neutral vessels shall not be placed in 
jeopardy. 

In order to exclude any unforeseen dangers to Ameri- 
can passenger steamers, made possible in view of the 
conduct of maritime war on the part of Germany's adver- 
saries, the German submarines will be instructed to per- 
mit the free and safe passage of such passenger steamers 
when made recognizable by special markings and 
notified a reasonable time in advance. The Imperial 
Government, however, confidently hopes that the Ameri- 
can Government will assume the guarantee that these ves- 
sels have no contraband on board. The details of the 
arrangements for the unhampered passage of these vessels 
would have to be agreed upon by the naval authorities of 
both sides. 

In order to furnish adequate facilities for travel across 
the Atlantic ocean for American citizens, the German 
Government submits for consideration a proposal to 
increase the number of available steamers by installing 
in the passenger service a reasonable number of neutral 
steamers, the exact number to be agreed upon, under the 
American flag under the same conditions as the Ameri- 
can steamers above mentioned. 

The Imperial Government believes that it can assume 
that in this manner adequate facilities for travel across 
the Atlantic Ocean can be afforded American citizens. 
There would therefore appear to be no compelling neces- 



256 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

sity for American citizens to travel to Europe in time of 
war on ships carrying an enemy flag. In particular the 
Imperial Government is unable to admit that American 
citizens can protect an enemy ship through the mere fact 
of their presence on board. Germany merely followed 
England's example when it declared part of the high 
seas an area of war. Consequently accidents suffered by 
neutrals on enemy ships in this area of war cannot well 
be judged differently from accidents to which neutrals 
are at all times exposed at the seat of war on land when 
they betake themselves into dangerous localities in spite 
of previous warning. 

If, however, it should not be possible for the American 
Government to acquire an adequate number of neutral 
passenger steamers, the Imperial Government is prepared 
to interpose no objections to the placing under the Ameri- 
can flag by the American Government of four enemy pas- 
senger steamers for the passenger traffic between America 
and England. The assurances of "free and safe" pas- 
sage for American passenger steamers would then be 
extended to apply under the identical preconditions to 
these formerly hostile passenger ships. 

The President of the United States has declared his 
readiness, in a way deserving of thanks, to communicate 
and suggest proposals to the Government of Great Britain 
with particular reference to the alteration of maritime 
war. The Imperial Government will always be glad to 
make use of the good offices of the President and hopes 
that his efforts in the present case, as well as in the direc- 
tion of the lofty ideal of the freedom of the seas, will 
lead to an understanding. 

The undersigned requests the Ambassador to bring 
the above to the knowledge of the American Government 
and avails himself of the opportunity to renew to His 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 257 

Excellency the assurance of his most distinguished con- 
sideration. 

Von Jagow. 



AMERICA'S REJOINDER 

Secretary of State Lansing to Ambassador Gerard 

Department of State, 
Washington, July 21, 1915. 

You are instructed to deliver textually the following 
note to the Minister for Foreign Affairs : 

The note of the Imperial German Government dated 
the 8th of July, 1915, has received the careful considera- 
tion of the Government of the United States, and it 
regrets to be obliged to say that it has found it very unsat- 
isfactory, because it fails to meet the real difference be- 
tween the two governments and indicates no way in which 
the accepted principles of law and humanity may be 
applied in the grave matter in controversy, but proposes, 
on the contrary, arrangements for a partial suspension of 
those principles which virtually set them aside. 

The Government of the United States notes with satis- 
faction that the Imperial German Government recognizes 
without reservation the validity of the principles insisted 
on in the several communications which this Govern- 
ment has addressed to the Imperial German Government 
with regard to its announcement of a war zone and the 
use of submarines against merchantmen on the high seas 
— the principle that the high seas are free, that the char- 
acter and cargo of a merchantman must first be ascer- 
tained before she can lawfully be seized or destroyed and 
that the lives of noncombatants may in no case be put in 
jeopardy unless the vessel resists or seeks to escape after 



258 HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

being summoned to submit to examination ; for a belliger- 
ent act of retaliation is per se an act beyond the law, and 
the defense of an act as retaliatory is an admission that it 
is illegal. 

The Government of the United States is, however, 
keenly disappointed to find that the Imperial German 
Government regards itself as in large degree exempt from 
the obligation to observe these principles, even where neu- 
tral vessels are concerned, by what it believes the policy 
and practice of the Government of Great Britain to be in 
the present war with regard to neutral commerce. The 
Imperial German Government will readily understand 
that the Government of the United States cannot discuss 
the policy of the Government of Great Britain with re- 
gard to neutral trade except with that Government itself, 
and that it must regard the conduct of other belligerent 
governments as irrelevant to any discussion with the 
Imperial German Government of what this Government 
regards as grave and unjustifiable violations of the rights 
of American citizens by German naval commanders. Il- 
legal and inhuman acts, however justifiable they may be 
thought to be against an enemy who is believed to have 
acted in contravention of law and humanity, are mani- 
festly indefensible when they deprive neutrals of their 
acknowledged rights, particularly when they violate the 
right to life itself. If a belligerent cannot retaliate 
against an enemy without injuring the lives of neutrals as 
well as their property, humanity, as well as justice and a 
due regard for the dignity of neutral powers, should dic- 
tate that the practice be discontinued. If persisted in it 
would in such circumstances constitute an unpardonable 
offense against the sovereignty of the neutral nation 
affected. The Government of the United States is not 
unmindful of the extraordinary conditions created by this 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 259 

war or of the radical alterations of circumstance and 
method of attack produced by the use of instrumentalities 
of naval warfare which the nations of the world cannot 
have had in view when the existing rules of international 
law were formulated, and it is ready to make every rea- 
sonable allowance for these novel and unexpected aspects 
of war at sea, but it cannot consent to abate any essential 
or fundamental right of its people because of a mere alter- 
ation of circumstance. The rights of neutrals in time of 
war are based upon principle, not upon expediency, and 
the principles are immutable. It is the duty and obliga- 
tion of belligerents to find a way to adapt the new cir- 
cumstances to them. 

The events of the past two months have clearly indi- 
cated that it is possible and practicable to conduct such 
submarine operations as have characterized the activity 
of the Imperial German Navy within the so-called war 
zone in substantial accord with the accepted practices of 
regulated warfare. The whole world has looked with 
interest and increasing satisfaction at the demonstration 
of that possibility by German naval commanders. It is 
manifestly possible, therefore, to lift the whole practice 
of submarine attack above the criticism which it has 
aroused and remove the chief causes of offense. 

In view of the admission of illegality made by the Im- 
perial Government when it pleaded the right of retalia- 
tion in defense of its acts, and in view of the manifest 
possibility of conforming to the established rules of naval 
warfare, the Government of the United States cannot 
believe that the Imperial Government will longer refrain 
from disavowing the wanton act of its naval commander 
in sinking the Lusitania or from offering reparation for 
the American lives lost, so far as reparation can be made 
for a needless destruction of human life by an illegal act. 



260 HISTOEY-MAKLNG DOCUMENTS 

The Government of the United States, while not indif- 
ferent to the friendly spirit in which it is made, cannot 
accept the suggestion of the Imperial German Govern- 
ment that certain vessels be designated and agreed upon 
which shall be free on the seas now illegally proscribed. 
The very agreement would, by implication, subject other 
vessels to illegal attack and would be a curtailment and 
therefore an abandonment of the principles for which this 
Government contends and which in time of calmer coun- 
sels every nation would concede as of course. 

The Government of the United States and the Imperial 
German Government are contending for the same great 
object, have long stood together in urging the very prin- 
ciples upon which the Government of the United States 
now so solemnly insists. They are both contending for 
the freedom of the seas. The Government of the United 
States will continue to contend for that freedom, from 
whatever quarter violated, without compromise and at 
any cost. It invites the practical cooperation of the Im- 
perial German Government at this time when cooperation 
may accomplish most and this great common object be 
most strikingly and effectively achieved. 

The Imperial German Government expresses the hope 
that this object may be in some measure accomplished 
even before the present war ends. It can be. The Gov- 
ernment of the United States not only feels obliged to 
insist upon it, by whomsoever violated or ignored, in the 
protection of its own citizens, but is also deeply inter- 
ested in seeing it made practicable between the belliger- 
ents themselves, and holds itself ready at any time to act 
as the common friend who may be privileged to suggest 
a way. 

In the meantime the very value which this Government 
sets upon the long and unbroken friendship between the 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 261 

people and Government of the United States and the peo- 
ple and Government of the German nation impels it to 
press very solemnly upon the Imperial German Govern- 
ment the necessity for a scrupulous observance of neutral 
rights in this critical matter. Friendship itself prompts 
it to say to the Imperial Government that repetition by 
the commanders of German naval vessels of acts in con- 
travention of those rights must be regarded by the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, when they affect American 
citizens, as deliberately unfriendly. 

Lansing. 



262 HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

GERMANY'S BROKEN AGREEMENT 
Ambassador von Bernstorff to Secretary Lansing 
Washington, D. 0., Sept. 1, 1915. 
My Dear Mr. Secretary : 

"With reference to our conversation of this morning, I 
beg to inform you that my instructions concerning our 
answer to your last Lusitania note* contain the following 
passage : 

"Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without 
warning and without safety to the lives of noncombatants, 
provided that the liners do not try to escape or offer 
resistance. ' ' 

Although I know that you do not wish to discuss the 
Lusitania question till the Arabic incident has been defi- 
nitely and satisfactorily settled, I desire to inform you 
of the above because this policy of my Government was 
decided on before the Arabic incident occurred. 

I have no objection to your making any use you may 
please of the above information. 

I remain, my dear Mr. Lansing, very sincerely yours, 

J. von Bernstorff. 



RECALL OF AUSTRIAN AMBASSADOR 

The Secretary of State to Ambassador Penfield at 
Vienna 

Department of State, 
Washington, September 8, 1915. 

You are instructed to present immediately the fol- 
lowing in a note to the Foreign Office : 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 263 

"Mr. Constantin Dumba, the Austro -Hungarian Am- 
bassador at Washington, has admitted that he proposed 
to his Government plans to instigate strikes in Ameri- 
can manufacturing plants engaged in the production of 
munitions of war. The information reached this Gov- 
ernment through a copy of a letter of the Ambassador to 
his Government. The bearer was an American citizen 
named Archibald, who was traveling under an American 
passport. The Ambassador has admitted that he em- 
ployed Archibald to bear official despatches from him to 
his Government. 

"By reason of the admitted purpose and intent of Mr. 
Dumba to conspire to cripple legitimate industries of the 
people of the United States and to interrupt their legiti- 
mate trade, and by reason of the flagrant violation of 
diplomatic propriety in employing an American citizen 
protected by an American passport as a secret bearer of 
official despatches through the lines of the enemy of Aus- 
tria-Hungary, the President directs me to inform your 
Excellency that Mr. Dumba is no longer acceptable to 
the Government of the United States as the Ambassador 
of His Imperial Majesty at "Washington. 

"Believing that the Imperial and Royal Government 
will realize that the Government of the United States 
has no alternative but to request the recall of Mr. Dumba 
on account of his improper conduct, the Government of 
the United States expresses its deep regret that this 
course has become necessary and assures the Imperial and 
Royal Government that it sincerely desires to continue 
the cordial and friendly relations which exist between 
the United States and Austria-Hungary. ' ' 

Lansing. 



264 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

RECALL OF GERMAN ATTACHES 

The Secretary of State to the German Ambassador 

Department of State, 
"Washington, December 4, 1915. 
Excellency : 

Confirming my conversation with you on Decem- 
ber first, I have the honor to state that various 
facts and circumstances having come to the knowledge 
of the Government of the United States as to the con- 
nection of Captain Boy-Ed, Naval Attache, and Captain 
von Papen, Military Attache, of the Imperial German 
Embassy, with the illegal and questionable acts of certain 
persons within the United States, the President reached 
the conviction that the continued presence of these gen- 
tlemen as Attaches of the Embassy would no longer 
serve the purpose of their mission, and would be unac- 
ceptable to his Government. 

The President, therefore, directed me to notify Your 
Excellency, as I did orally, that Captain Boy-Ed and 
Captain von Papen are no longer acceptable to the Gov- 
ernment of the United States as Attaches of His Im- 
perial Majesty's Embassy at Washington, and to request 
that your Excellency's Government withdraw them im- 
mediately from their official connection with the Imperial 
German Embassy. 

As I informed you at the time of our interview, the 
Government of the United States deeply regrets that this 
action has become necessary and believes that the Im- 
perial Government will realize that this Government has, 
in view of all the circumstances, no alternative course 
consistent with the interests of the two Governments in 
their relations with each other. 

Accept, etc., Robert Lansing. 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 265 



The Secretary of State to the German Ambassador 

Department of State, 
Washington, December 10, 1915. 

My Dear Mr. Ambassador : 

On December 1st I informed Your Excellency that 
Captain Boy-Ed, the Naval Attache of your Embassy, 
and Captain von Papen, the Military Attache, were no 
longer persona grata to my Government and requested 
that the Imperial Government immediately recall the 
two attaches. 

As ten days have passed without the request of this 
Government being complied with and without commu- 
nication from you on the subject other than your per- 
sonal letter of the 5th instant, which in no way affected 
the fact that the two attaches were unacceptable or pre- 
sented a ground for delay, I feel compelled to direct 
your attention to the expectation of this Government 
that its request would be immediately granted. 

I trust, my dear Mr. Ambassador, that you appreciate 
the situation and will urge upon your Government a 
prompt compliance with the request in order that this 
Government may not be compelled to take action with- 
out awaiting the recall of the attaches, an action which 
this Government does not desire to take but will be forced 
to take unless the Imperial Government meets the ex- 
press wish of this Government without further delay. 
I need not impress upon Your Excellency the desirability 
of avoiding a circumstance which would increase the 
embarrassment of the present situation. 
I am, etc., 

Robert Lansing. 



266 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

The German Ambassador to the Secretary of State 

German Embassy, 
"Washington, December 10, 1915. 

Mr. Secretary of State : 

In reply to your note of the 4th of this month, I have 
the honor to inform Your Excellency that his Majesty the 
Emperor and King has been most graciously pleased to 
recall the Naval Attache of the Imperial Embassy, Cap- 
tain Boy-Ed, and the Military Attache, Captain von 
Papen. 

I am instructed to beg Your Excellency to obtain for 
the above-named gentlemen a safe conduct for the return 
trip to Germany from the powers at war with the Gen- 
man Empire, and also to insure the trip of the successors 
of those gentlemen to the United States in the event of 
their being appointed by His Majesty. 

Accept, etc., J. Bernstorfp. 



The Secretary of State to the German Ambassador 

Department of State, 
Washington, December 15, 1915. 

My Dear Mr. Ambassador : 

I am advised by the British and French Ambassadors 
that safe conducts will be furnished to Captains Boy-Ed 
and von Papen for their return to Germany, it being 
understood that they will take the southern route to 
Holland. The Ambassadors request information as to 
the vessel and date of sailing of the two gentlemen, which 
I hope you will furnish at your earliest convenience. It 
is also understood that they will, of course, perform no 
unneutral act, such as carrying dispatches to the German 
Government. I am, etc., Eobert Lansing. 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 267 

SUBMARINES AND ARMED MER- 
CHANTMEN 

Informal and Confidential Letter from the Secretary of 
State to the British Ambassador* 

Department of State, 
Washington, January 18, 1916. 

My Dear Mr. Ambassador : 

It is a matter of the deepest interest to my Government 
to bring to an end, if possible, the dangers to life which 
attend the use of submarines as at present employed in 
destroying enemy commerce on the high seas, since on 
any merchant vessel of belligerent nationality there may 
be citizens of the United States who have taken passage 
or are members of the crew, in the exercise of their rec- 
ognized rights as neutrals. I assume that Your Excel- 
lency 's Government are equally solicitous to protect their 
nations from the exceptional hazards which are pre- 
sented by their passage on a merchant vessel through 
those portions of the high seas in which undersea craft 
of their enemy are operating. 

"While I am fully alive to the appalling loss of life 
among noncombatants, regardless of age or sex, which 
has resulted from the present method of destroying mer- 
chant vessels without removing the persons on board to 
places of safety, and while I view that practice as con- 
trary to those humane principles which should control 
belligerents in the conduct of their naval operations, I 

* Same to the Ambassador of France, the Russian Ambassador, 
the Ambassador of Italy, the Belgian Minister, and, on January 
j24, 1916, to the Japanese Ambassador. 



268 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

do not feel that a belligerent should be deprived of the 
proper use of submarines in the interruption of enemj 
commerce since those instruments of war have proven 
their effectiveness in this particular branch of warfare on 
the high seas. 

In order to bring submarine warfare within the gen- 
eral rules of international law and the principles of 
humanity without destroying its efficiency in the destruc- 
tion of commerce, I believe that a formula may be found 
which, though it may require slight modifications of the 
practice generally followed by nations prior to the em- 
ployment of submarines, will appeal to the sense of justice 
and fairness of all the belligerents in the present war. 

Your Excellency will understand that in seeking a 
formula or rule of this nature I approach it of necessity 
from the point of view of a neutral, but I believe that it 
will be equally efficacious in preserving the lives of 
all noncombatants on merchant vessels of belligerent 
nationality. 

My comments on this subject are predicated on the fol- 
lowing propositions: 

1. A noncombatant has a right to traverse the high 
seas in a merchant vessel entitled to fly a belligerent flag 
and to rely upon the observance of the rules of interna- 
tional law and principles of humanity if the vessel is 
approached by a naval vessel of another belligerent. 

2. A merchant vessel of enemy nationality should not 
be attacked without being ordered to stop. 

3. An enemy merchant vessel, when ordered to do so 
by a belligerent submarine, should immediately stop. 

4. Such vessel should not be attacked after being or- 
dered to stop unless it attempts to flee or to resist, and 
in case it ceases to flee or resist, the attack should dis- 
continue. 



HISTOKY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 269 

5. In the event that it is impossible to place a prize crew 
on board of an enemy merchant vessel or convoy it into 
port, tne vessel may be sunk, provided the crew and pas- 
sengers have been removed to a place of safety. 

In complying with the foregoing propositions which, in 
my opinion, embody the principal rules, the strict observ- 
ance of which will insure the life of a noncombatant on 
a merchant vessel which is intercepted by a submarine, 
I am not unmindful of the obstacles which would be met 
by undersea craft as commerce destroyers. 

Prior to the year 1915 belligerent operations against 
enemy commerce on the high seas had been conducted 
with cruisers carrying heavy armaments. Under these 
conditions international law appeared to permit a mer- 
chant vessel to carry an armament for defensive purposes 
without losing its character as a private commercial ves- 
sel. This right seems to have been predicated on the 
superior defensive strength of ships of war, and the lim- 
itation of armament to have been dependent on the fact 
that it could not be used effectively in offense against 
enemy naval vessels, while it could defend the merchant- 
men against the generally inferior armament of piratical 
ships and privateers. 

The use of the submarine, however, has changed these 
relations. Comparison of the defensive strength of a 
cruiser and a submarine shows that the latter, relying 
for protection on its power to submerge, is almost defense- 
less in point of construction. Even a merchant ship 
carrying a small caliber gun would be able to use it 
effectively for offense against a submarine. Moreover, 
pirates and sea rovers have been swept from the main 
trade channels of the seas, and privateering has been 
abolished. Consequently, the placing of guns on mer- 
chantmen at the present day of submarine warfare can 



270 HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

be explained only on the ground of a purpose to render 
merchantmen superior in force to submarines and to pre- 
vent warning and visit and search by them. Any arma- 
ment, therefore, on a merchant vessel would seem to have 
the character of an offensive armament. 

If a submarine is required to stop and search a mer- 
chant vessel on the high seas and, in case it is found that 
she is of enemy character and that conditions necessitate 
her destruction, to remove to a place of safety all persons 
on board, it would not seem just or reasonable that the 
submarine should be compelled, while complying with 
these requirements, to expose itself to almost certain 
destruction by the guns on board the merchant vessel. 

It would, therefore, appear to be a reasonable and re- 
ciprocally just arrangement if it could be agreed by the 
opposing belligerents that submarines should be caused 
to adhere strictly to the rules of international law in the 
matter of stopping and searching merchant vessels, 
determining their belligerent nationality, and removing 
the crews and passengers to places of safety before sinking 
the vessels as prizes of war, and that merchant vessels of 
belligerent nationality should be prohibited and pre- 
vented from carrying any armament whatsoever. 

In presenting this formula as a basis for conditional 
declarations by the belligerent Governments, I do so in 
the full conviction that your Government will consider 
primarily the humane purpose of saving the lives of 
innocent people rather than the insistence upon a doubt- 
ful legal right which may be denied on account of new 
conditions. 

I would be pleased if you would be good enough to 
bring this suggestion to the attention of your Govern- 
ment and inform me of their views upon the subject, and 
whether they would be willing to make such a declara- 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 271 

tion conditioned upon their enemies making a similar 
declaration. 

A communication similar to this one has been addressed 
to the Ambassadors of France, Russia, and Italy, and the 
Minister of Belgium at this capital. 

I should add that my Government is impressed with 
the reasonableness of the argument that a merchant vessel 
carrying an armament of any sort, in view of the char- 
acter of submarine warfare and the defensive weakness 
of undersea craft, should be held to be an auxiliary 
cruiser and so treated by a neutral as well as by a bel- 
ligerent Government, and is seriously considering in- 
structing its officials accordingly. 
I am, etc., 

Robert Lansing. 



272 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

SINKING OF THE "SUSSEX" 

First Threat to Sever Diplomatic Relations with 
Germany 

The Secretary of State to Ambassador Gerard at Berlin 

[Telegram.] 

Department of State, 
Washington, March 27, 1916. 

Mr. Gerard is informed that considerable evidence has 
been ■ received by the Department to the effect that the 
steamship "Sussex" with several American citizens 
among the passengers was sunk by a submarine torpedo 
on the 24th instant, and he is directed to inquire imme- 
diately of the German Foreign Office whether a sub- 
marine belonging to Germany or her allies sunk th© 
"Sussex." The Department expects a prompt reply. 



The Secretary of State to Ambassador Gerard 

[Telegram.] 

Department of State, 
Washington, April 18, 1916. 

You are instructed to deliver to the Secretary of 
Foreign Affairs a communication reading as follows : 

I did not fail to transmit immediately, by telegraph, 
to my Government Your Excellency's note of the 10th 
instant in regard to certain attacks by German sub- 
marines, and particularly in regard to the disastrous 
explosion which on March 24, last, wrecked the French 
steamship "Sussex" in the English Channel. I have 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 273 

now the honor to deliver, under instructions from my 
Government, the following reply to Your Excellency : 

Information now in the possession of the Government 
of the United States fully establishes the facts in the case 
of the "Sussex," and the inferences which my Govern- 
ment has drawn from that information it regards as con- 
firmed by the circumstances set forth in Your Excel- 
lency's note of the 10th instant. On the 24th of March, 
1916, at about 2 :50 o'clock in the afternoon, the unarmed 
steamer "Sussex," with 325 or more passengers on board, 
among whom were a number of American citizens, was 
torpedoed while crossing from Folkestone to Dieppe. The 
"Sussex" had never been armed; was a vessel known to 
be habitually used only for the conveyance of passengers 
across the English Channel; and was not following the 
route taken by troop ships or supply ships. About 80 of 
her passengers, noncombatants of all ages and sexes, in- 
cluding citizens of the United States, were killed or 
injured. 

A careful, detailed, and scrupulously impartial in- 
vestigation by naval and military officers of the United 
States has conclusively established the fact that the 
"Sussex" was torpedoed without warning or summons to 
surrender and that the torpedo by which she was struck 
was of German manufacture. In the view of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States these facts from the first 
made the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a Ger- 
man submarine unavoidable. It now considers that con- 
clusion substantiated by the statements of Your Excel- 
lency's note. A full statement of the facts upon which 
the Government of the United States has based its con- 
clusion is inclosed. 

^ The Government of the United States, after having 
given careful consideration to the note of the Imperial 



274 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

Government of the 10th of April, regrets to state that 
the impression made upon it by the statements and pro- 
posals contained in that note is that the Imperial Govern- 
ment has failed to appreciate the gravity of the situa- 
tion which has resulted, not alone from the attack on the 
"Sussex" but from the whole method and character of 
submarine warfare as disclosed by the unrestrained prac- 
tice of the commanders of German undersea craft during 
the past twelvemonth and more in the indiscriminate 
destruction of merchant vessels of all sorts, nationalities, 
and destinations. If the sinking of the "Sussex" had 
been an isolated case the Government of the United States 
might find it possible to hope that the officer who was 
responsible for that act had wilfully violated his orders 
or had been criminally negligent in taking none of the 
precautions they prescribed, and that the ends of justice 
might be satisfied by imposing upon him an adequate 
punishment, coupled with a formal disavowal of the act 
and payment of a suitable indemnity by the Imperial 
Government. But, though the attack upon the "Sussex" 
was manifestly indefensible and caused a loss of life so 
tragical as to make it stand forth as one of the most 
terrible examples of the inhumanity of submarine war- 
fare as the commanders of German vessels are conducting 
it, it unhappily does not stand alone. 

On the contrary, the Government of the United States 
is forced by recent events to conclude that it is only one 
instance, even though one of the most extreme and most 
distressing instances, of the deliberate method and spirit 
of indiscriminate destruction of merchant vessels of all 
sorts, nationalities, and destinatiqns which have become 
more and more unmistakable as the activity of German 
undersea vessels of war has in recent months been quick- 
ened and extended. 



HISTOET-MAKING DOCUMENTS 275 

The Imperial Government will recall that when, in 
February, 1915, it announced its intention of treating 
the waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland as 
embraced within the seat of war and of destroying all 
merchant ships owned by its enemies that might be 
found within that zone of danger, and warned all vessels, 
neutral as well as belligerent, to keep out of the waters 
thus proscribed or to enter them at their peril, the Gov- 
ernment of the United States earnestly protested. It 
took the position that such a policy could not be pursued 
without constant gross and palpable violations of the 
accepted law of nations, particularly if submarine craft 
were to be employed as its instruments, inasmuch as the 
rules prescribed by that law, rules founded on the prin- 
ciples of humanity and established for the protection of 
the lives of noncombatants at sea, could not in the nature 
of the case be observed by such vessels. It based its pro- 
test on the ground that persons of neutral nationality and 
vessels of neutral ownership would be exposed to extreme 
and intolerable risks ; and that no right to close any part 
of the high seas could lawfully be asserted by the Im- 
perial Government in the circumstances then existing. 
The law of nations in these matters, upon which the Gov- 
ernment of the United States based that protest, is not 
of recent origin or founded upon merely arbitrary prin- 
ciples set up by convention. It is based, on the contrary, 
upon manifest principles of humanity and has long been 
established with the approval and by the express assent 
of all civilized nations. 

The Imperial Government, notwithstanding, persisted 
in carrying out the policy announced, expressing the hope 
that the dangers involved, at any rate to neutral vessels, 
would be reduced to a minimum by the instructions 
which it had issued to the commanders of its submarines, 



276 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

and assuring the Government of the United States that it 
would take every possible precaution both to respect the 
rights of neutrals and to safeguard the lives of noncom- 
batants. 

In pursuance of this policy of submarine warfare 
against the commerce of its adversaries, thus announced 
and thus entered upon in despite of the solemn protest of 
the Government of the United States, the commanders of 
the Imperial Government's undersea vessels have carried 
on practices of such ruthless destruction which have made 
it more and more evident as the months have gone by 
that the Imperial Government has found it impracticable 
to put any such restraints upon them as it had hoped and 
promised to put. Again and again the Imperial Govern- 
ment has given its solemn assurances to the Government 
of the United States that at least passenger ships would 
not be thus dealt with, and yet it has repeatedly per- 
mitted its undersea commanders to disregard those assur- 
ances with entire impunity. As recently as February 
last it gave notice that it would regard all armed mer- 
chantmen owned by its enemies as part of the armed 
naval forces of its adversaries and deal with them as with 
men-of-war, thus, at least by Implication, pledging itself 
to give warning to vessels which were not armed and to 
accord security of life to their passengers and crews ; but 
even this limitation their submarine commanders have 
recklessly ignored. 

Vessels of neutral ownership, even vessels of neutral 
ownership bound from neutral port to neutral port, have 
been destroyed along with vessels of belligerent owner- 
ship in constantly increasing numbers. Sometimes the 
merchantmen attacked have been warned and summoned 
to surrender before being fired on or torpedoed ; some- 
times their passengers and crews have been vouchsafed 



HISTOEY -MAKING DOCUMENTS 277 

the poor security of being allowed to take to the ship 's 
boats before the ship was sent to the bottom. But again 
and again no warning has been given, no escape even to 
the ship 's boats allowed to those on board. Great liners 
like the ' ' Lusitania " and "Arabic" and mere passenger 
boats like the "Sussex" have been attacked without a 
moment's warning, often before they have even become 
aware that they were in the presence of an armed ship of 
the enemy, and the lives of noncombatants, passengers, 
and crew have been destroyed wholesale and in a manner 
which the Government of the United States can not but 
regard as wanton and without the slightest color of justi- 
fication. No limit of any kind has in fact been set to their 
indiscriminate pursuit and destruction of merchantmen 
of all kinds and nationalities within the waters which the 
Imperial Government has chosen to designate as lying 
within the seat of war. The roll of Americans who have 
lost their lives upon ships thus attacked and destroyed 
has grown month by month until the ominous toll has 
mounted into the hundreds. 

The Government of the United States has been very 
patient. At every stage of this distressing experience of 
tragedy after tragedy it has sought to be governed by the 
most thoughtful consideration of the extraordinary cir- 
cumstances of an unprecedented war and to be guided by 
sentiments of very genuine friendship for the people 
and Government of Germany. It has accepted the suc- 
cessive explanations and assurances of the Imperial Gov- 
ernment as of course given in entire sincerity and good 
faith, and has hoped, even against hope, that it would 
prove to be possible for the Imperial Government so to 
order and control the acts of its naval commanders as 
to square its policy with the recognized principles of 
humanity as embodied in the law of nations. It has 



278 HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

made every allowance for unprecedented conditions and 
has been willing to wait until the facts became unmis- 
takable and were susceptible of only one interpretation. 

It now owes it to a just regard for its own rights to 
say to the Imperial Government that that time has come. 
It has become painfully evident to it that the position 
which it took at the very outset is inevitable, namely, the 
use of submarines for the destruction of an enemy 's com- 
merce, is, of necessity, because of the very character of 
the vessels employed and the very methods of attack 
which their employment of course involves, utterly in- 
compatible with the principles of humanity, the long- 
established and incontrovertible rights of neutrals, and 
the sacred immunities of noncombatants. 

If it is still the purpose of the Imperial Government 
to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare against 
vessels of commerce by the use of submarines without 
regard to what the Government of the United States must 
consider the sacred and indisputable rules of interna- 
tional law and the universally recognized dictates of 
humanity, the Government of the United States is at last 
forced to the conclusion that there is but one course it 
can pursue. Unless the Imperial Government should now 
immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its 
present methods of submarine warfare against passenger 
and freight-carrying vessels, the Government of the 
United States can have no choice hut to sever diplomatic 
relations with tlve German Empire altogether. This 
action the Government of the United States contemplates 
with the greatest reluctance but feels constrained to take 
in behalf of humanity and the rights of neutral nations. 

Lansing. 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 279 

FACTS IN "SUSSEX" CASE 

The French channel steamer "Sussex," employed 
regularly in passenger service between the ports of Folke- 
stone, England, and Dieppe, France, as it had been for 
years, left Folkestone for Dieppe at 1:25 p. m., March 
24, 1916, with 325 or more passengers and a crew of 53 
men. The passengers, among whom were about 25 Ameri- 
can citizens, were of several nationalities and many of 
them were women and children and nearly half of them 
subjects of neutral states. The "Sussex" carried no 
armament, had never been employed as a troop ship, and 
was following a route not used for transporting troops 
from Great Britain to France. 

The steamer proceeded on its course almost due south 
after passing Dungeness. The weather was clear and the 
sea smooth. At 2:50 p. m., when the "Sussex" was 
about 13 miles from Dungeness, the captain of the ves- 
sel, who was on the bridge, saw about 150 meters from 
the ship, on the port side, the wake of a torpedo. It was 
also seen very clearly by the first officer and the boat- 
swain who were with the captain on the bridge. Imme- 
diately the captain gave orders to port the helm and 
stop the starboard engine, the purpose being to swing 
the vessel to starboard so as to dodge the torpedo by 
allowing it to pass along the port bow on a line con- 
verging with the altered course of the steamer. Before, 
however, the vessel could be turned far enough to avoid 
crossing the course of the torpedo, the latter struck the 
hull at an angle a short distance forward of the bridge, 
exploded, destroyed the entire forward part of the 
steamer as far back as the first water-tight bulkhead, 
carried away the foremast with the wireless antennae 
and killed or injured about 80 of the persons on board. 



280 HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

PEACE NOTE TO THE POWERS 

The Secretary of State to Ambassador W. H. Page 

Department of State, 
Washington, December 18, 1916. 

The President directs me to send you the following 
communication to be presented immediately to the Min- 
ister of Foreign Affairs of the Government to which you 
are accredited: 

"The President of the United States has instructed 
me to suggest to His Majesty's Government a course of 
action with regard to the present war which he hopes that 
the British Government will take under consideration as 
suggested in the most friendly spirit and as coming not 
only from a friend but also as coming from the repre- 
sentative of a neutral nation whose interests have been 
most seriously affected by the war and whose concern for 
its early conclusion arises out of a manifest necessity to 
determine how best to safeguard those interests if the war 
is to continue. 

"The suggestion which I am instructed to make the 
President has long had it in mind to offer. He is some- 
what embarrassed to offer it at this particular time be- 
cause it may now seem to have been prompted by the 
recent overtures of the Central Powers. It is in fact in 
no way associated with them in its origin and the Presi- 
dent would have delayed offering it until those overtures 
had been answered but for the fact that it also concerns 
the question of peace and may best be considered in con- 
nection with other proposals which have the same end in 
view. The President can only beg that his suggestion 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 281 

be considered entirely on its own merits and as if it had 
been made in other circumstances. 

"The President suggests that an early occasion be 
sought to call out from all the nations now at war such 
an avowal of their respective views as to the terms upon 
which the war might be concluded and the arrangements 
which would be deemed satisfactory as a guaranty against 
its renewal or the kindling of any similar conflict in the 
future as would make it possible frankly to compare them. 
He is indifferent as to the means taken to accomplish this. 
He would be happy himself to serve or even to take the 
initiative in its accomplishment in any way that might 
prove acceptable, but he has no desire to determine the 
method or the instrumentality. One way will be as ac- 
ceptable to him as another if only the great object he has 
in mind is attained. 

"He takes the liberty of calling attention to the fact 
that the objects which the statesmen of the belligerents 
on both sides have in mind in this war are virtually the 
same, as stated in general terms to their own people and 
to the world. Each side desires to make the rights and 
privileges of weak peoples and small States as secure 
against aggression or denial in the future as the rights 
and privileges of the great and powerful States now at 
war. Each wishes itself to be made secure in the future, 
along with all other nations and peoples, against the re- 
currence of wars like this and against aggression of selfish 
interference of any kind. Each would be jealous of 
the formation of any more rival leagues to preserve an 
uncertain balance of power amidst multiplying suspi- 
cions; but each is ready to consider the formation of a 
league of nations to insure peace and justice throughout 
the world. Before that final step can be taken, however, 
each deems it necessary first to settle the issues of the 



282 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

present war upon terms which will certainly safeguard 
the independence, the territorial integrity, and the po- 
litical and commercial freedom of the nations involved. 

"In the measures to be taken to secure the future 
peace of the world the people and Government of the 
United States are as vitally and as directly interested 
as the Governments now at war. Their interest, more- 
over, in the means to be adopted to relieve the smaller 
and weaker peoples of the world of the peril of wrong 
and violence is as quick and ardent as that of any other 
people or Government. They stand ready, and even 
eager, to cooperate in the accomplishment of these ends, 
when the war is over, with every influence and resource 
at their command. But the war must first be concluded. 
The terms upon which it is to be concluded they are not 
at liberty to suggest ; but the President does feel that it 
is his right and his duty to point out their intimate in- 
terest in its conclusion, lest it should presently be too 
late to accomplish the greater things which lie beyond 
its conclusion, lest the situation of neutral nations, now 
exceedingly hard to endure, be rendered altogether intol- 
erable, and lest, more than all, an injury be done civiliza- 
tion itself which can never be atoned for or repaired. 

"The President therefore feels altogether justified in 
suggesting an immediate opportunity for a comparison 
of views as to the terms which must precede those ulti- 
mate arrangements for the peace of the world, which 
all desire and in which the neutral nations as well as 
those at war are ready to play their full responsible part. 
If the contest must continue to proceed towards unde- 
fined ends by slow attrition until the one group of bel- 
ligerents or the other is exhausted, if million after mil- 
lion of human lives must continue to be offered up until 
on the one side or the other there are no more to offer, 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 283 

if resentments must be kindled that can never cool and 
despairs engendered from which there can be no recov- 
ery, hopes of peace and of the willing concert of free 
peoples will be rendered vain and idle. 

"The life of the entire world has been profoundly- 
affected. Every part of the great family of mankind 
has felt the burden and terror of this unprecedented 
contest of arms. No nation in the civilized world can 
be said in truth to stand outside its influence or to be 
safe against its disturbing effects. And yet the concrete 
objects for which it is being waged have never been 
definitely stated. 

"The leaders of the several belligerents have, as has 
been said, stated those objects in general terms. But, 
stated in general terms, they seem the same on both 
sides. Never yet have the authoritative spokesmen of 
either side avowed the precise objects which would, if 
attained, satisfy them and their people that the war had 
been fought out. The world has been left to conjecture 
what definitive results, what actual exchange of guaran- 
tees, what political or territorial changes or readjust- 
ments, what stage of military success even, would bring 
the war to an end. 

"It may be that peace is nearer than we know; that 
the terms which the belligerents on the one side and on 
the other would deem it necessary to insist upon are not 
so irreconcilable as some have feared ; that an interchange 
of views would clear the way at least for conference and 
make the permanent concord of the nations a hope of 
the immediate future, a concert of nations immediately 
practicable. 

• ' The President is not proposing peace ; he is not even 
offering mediation. He is merely proposing that sound- 
ings be taken in order that we may learn, the neutral 



284 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

nations with the belligerent, how near the haven of peace 
may be for which all mankind longs with an intense and 
increasing longing. He believes that the spirit in which 
he speaks and the objects which he seeks will be under- 
stood by all concerned, and he confidently hopes for a 
response whch will bring a new light into the affairs of 

the world." T 

Lansing. 

[A note similar in terms to the above was addressed 
simultaneously to all the belligerent powers. The an- 
swers of the Allies took the form of an Allied Note, 
referred to in the following document.] 



BRITISH ANSWER TO PEACE NOTE 

Memorandum from British Embassy, Washington 

Foreign Office, 
London, January 13, 1917. 

Sir : In sending you a translation of the Allied Note I 
desire to make the following observations, which you 
should bring to the notice of the United States Govern- 
ment. 

I gather from the general tenour of the President's 
note that while he is animated by an intense desire that 
peace should come soon and that when it comes it should 
be lasting, he does not for the moment at least concern 
himself with the terms on which it should be arranged. 
His Majesty 's Government entirely share the President 's 
ideas, but they feel strongly that the durability of peace 
must largely depend on its character and that no stable 
system of international relations can be built on founda- 
tions which are essentially and hopelessly defective. 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 2 85 

This becomes clearly apparent if we consider the main 
conditions which rendered possible the calamities from 
which the world is now suffering. These were the exist- 
ence of great powers consumed with the lust of domina- 
tion m the midst of a community of nations ill prepared 
for defence, plentifully supplied indeed with interna- 
tional laws, but with no machinery for enforcing them 
and weakened by the fact that neither the boundaries of 
the various States nor their internal constitution har- 
monised with the aspirations of their constituent races 
or secured to them just and equal treatment. 

That this last evil would be greatly mitigated if the 
Allies secured the changes in the map of Europe outlined 
m their joint note is manifest and I need not labour the 
point. 

It has been argued, indeed, that the expulsion of the 
Turks from Europe forms no proper or logical part of 
this general scheme. The maintenance of the Turkish 
Empire was during many generations, regarded by states- 
men of world-wide authority as essential to the mainte- 
nance of European peace. Why, it is asked, should the 
cause of peace be now associated with a complete reversal 
ot this traditional policy? 

The answer is that circumstances have completely 
changed. It is unnecessary to consider now whether the 

HIT" 1" xt ™ d ^^ mediatin S betwee » hostile 
races m the Near East, was a scheme which, had the 
Sultan been sincere and the powers united, could ever 
have been realised. It certainly cannot be realised now 
The Turkey of "Union and Progress" is at least as bar- 

TT S T£ T T x ar m ° re a ^ ressive ^an the Turkey of 
Sultan Abdul Hamid. In the hands of Germany it has 
ceased even in appearance to be a bulwark of peace and 
is openly used as an instrument of conquest. Under Ger- 



286 HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

man officers Turkish soldiers are now fighting in lands 
from which they had long been expelled, and a Turkish 
Government, controlled, subsidized and supported by 
Germany, has been guilty of massacres in Armenia and 
Syria more horrible than any recorded in the history 
even of those unhappy countries. Evidently the interests 
of peace and the claims of nationality alike require that 
Turkish rule over alien races shall if possible be brought 
to an end ; and we may hope that the expulsion of Turkey 
from Europe will contribute as much to the cause of 
peace as the restoration of Alsace Lorraine to France, of 
Italia Irredenta to Italy, or any of the other territorial 
changes indicated in the Allied Note. 

Evidently, however, such territorial re-arrangements, 
though they may diminish the occasions of war, provide 
no sufficient security against its recurrence. If Germany, 
or rather those in Germany who mould its opinions and 
control its destinies, again set out to domineer the world, 
they may find that by the new order of things the ad- 
venture is made more difficult, but hardly that it is made 
impossible. They may still have ready to their hand a 
political system organised through and through on a 
military basis; they may still accumulate vast stores of 
military equipment ; they may still persist in their meth- 
ods of attack, so that their more pacific neighbours will 
be struck down before they can prepare themselves for 
defence. If so, Europe when the war is over will be 
far poorer in men, in money, and in mutual good will than 
it was when the war began but it will not be safer ; and 
the hopes for the future of the world entertained by the 
President will be as far as ever from fulfilment. 

There are those who think that for this disease Inter- 
national Treaties and International Laws may provide a 
sufficient cure. But such persons have ill learned the 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 287 

lessons so clearly taught by recent history. While other 
nations, notably the United States of America and 
Britain, were striving by treaties of arbitration to make 
sure that no chance quarrel should mar the peace they 
desired to make perpetual, Germany stood aloof. Her 
historians and philosophers preached the splendours of 
war, power was proclaimed as the true end of the State, 
and the General Staff forged with untiring industry the 
weapons by which at the appointed moment power might 
be achieved. These facts proved clearly enough that 
Treaty arrangements for maintaining peace were not 
likely to find much favour at Berlin ; they did not prove 
that such Treaties once made would be utterly ineffectual. 
This became evident only when war had broken out, 
though the demonstration, when it came, was overwhelm- 
ing. So long as Germany remains the Germany which 
without a shadow of justification overran and barbarously 
ill-treated a country it was pledged to defend, no State 
can regard its rights as secure if they have no better 
protection than a solemn Treaty. 

The case is made worse by the reflection that these 
methods of calculated brutality were designed by the 
Central Powers not merely to crush to the dust those with 
whom they were at war but to intimidate those with 
whom they were still at peace. Belgium was not only a 
victim, it was an example. Neutrals were intended to 
note the outrages which accompanied its conquest, the 
reign of terror which followed on its occupation, the de- 
portation of a portion of its population, the cruel oppres- 
sion of the remainder. And lest the nations happily pro- 
tected either by British Fleets or by their own from Ger- 
man Armies should suppose themselves safe from German 
methods, the submarine has (within its limits) assidu- 
ously imitated the barbarous practices of the sister service. 



288 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

The War Staffs of the Central Powers are well content to 
horrify the world if at the same time they can terrorize it. 

If, then, the Central Powers succeed, it will be to 
methods like these that they will owe their success. How 
can any reform of International relations be based on a 
peace thus obtained ? Such a peace would represent the 
triumph of all the forces which make war certain and 
make it brutal. It would advertise the futility of all the 
methods on which civilization relies to eliminate the occa- 
sions of International dispute and to mitigate their feroc- 
ity. Germany and Austria made the present war in- 
evitable by attacking the rights of one small State, and 
they gained their initial triumphs by violating the Treaty 
guarantees of the territories of another. Are small 
States going to find in them their future protectors or in 
Treaties made by them a bulwark against aggression? 
Terrorism by land and sea will have proved itself the in- 
strument of victory. Are the victors likely to abandon 
it on the appeal of neutrals ? If existing Treaties are no 
more than scraps of paper, can fresh Treaties help us? 
If the violation of the most fundamental canons of Inter- 
national Law be crowned with success, will it not be in 
vain that the assembled nations labour to improve their 
code? None will profit by their rules but Powers who 
break them. It is those who keep them that will suffer. 

Though, therefore, the people of this country share to 
the full the desire of the President for peace, they do not 
believe peace can be durable if it be not based on the 
success of the Allied cause. For a durable peace can 
hardly be expected unless three conditions are fulfilled. 
The first is that existing causes of international unrest 
should be, as far as possible, removed or weakened. The 
second is that the aggressive aims and the unscrupulous 
methods of the Central Powers should fall into disrepute 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 289 

among their own peoples. The third is that behind inter- 
national law and behind all Treaty arrangements for pre- 
venting or limiting hostilities some form of international 
sanction should be devised which would give pause to the 
hardiest aggressor. These conditions may be difficult of 
fulfilment. But we believe them to be in general har- 
mony with the President's ideas and we are confident 
that none of them can be satisfied, even imperfectly, unless 
peace be secured on the general lines indicated (so far as 
Europe is concerned) in the joint note. Therefore it is 
that this country has made, is making, and is prepared 
to make sacrifices of blood and treasure unparalleled in 
its history. It bears these heavy burdens not merely that 
it may thus fulfil its Treaty obligations nor yet that it 
may secure a barren triumph of one group of nations 
over another. It bears them because it firmly believes 
that on the success of the Allies depend the prospects of 
peaceful civilization and of those International reforms 
which the best thinkers of the New World, as of the Old, 
dare to hope may follow on the cessation of our present 
calamities. 

I am, etc., 

(Signed) Arthur James Balfour. 

His Excellency, 

The Right Honourable, 

Sir Cecil Spring Rice, G. C. M. G., 
etc., etc., etc. 



290 HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

THE GERMAN ANSWER 

"Foreign Office, 
"Berlin, December 26, 1916. 

"With reference to the esteemed communication of 
December 21, Foreign Office No. 15118, the undersigned 
has the honor to reply as follows: To His Excellency 
the Ambassador of the United States of America, Mr. 
James W. Gerard. 

"The Imperial Government has accepted and consid- 
ered in the friendly spirit which is apparent in the com- 
munication of the President, noble initiative of the Presi- 
dent looking to the creation of bases for the foundation 
of a lasting peace. The President discloses the aim which 
lies next to his heart and leaves the choice of the way 
open. A direct exchange of views appears to the Im- 
perial Government as the most suitable way of arriving 
at the desired result. The Imperial Government has the 
honor, therefore, in the sense of its declaration of the 
12th instant, which offered the hand for peace negotia- 
tions, to propose the speedy assembly, on neutral ground, 
of delegates of the warring States. 

"It is also the view of the Imperial Government that 
the great work for the prevention of future wars can 
first be taken up only after the ending of the present 
conflict of exhaustion. The Imperial Government is 
ready, when this point has been reached, to cooperate 
with the United States at this sublime task. 

"The undersigned, while permitting himself to have 
recourse to good offices of His Excellency the Ambassador 
in connection with the transmission of the above reply 
to the President of the United States, avails himself of 
this opportunity to renew the assurances of his highest 
consideration. "Zimmerman." 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 291 

GERMANY'S LAST MEMORANDUM 

The German Ambassador to the Secretary of State 

German Embassy, 
Washington, January 31, 1917. 

Mr. Secretary of State : 

Your Excellency was good enough to transmit to the 
Imperial Government a copy of the message which the 
President of the United States of America addressed to 
the Senate on the 22d inst. The Imperial Government 
has given it the earnest consideration which the Presi- 
dent's statements deserve, inspired as they are, by a deep 
sentiment of responsibility. It is highly gratifying to 
the Imperial Government to ascertain that the main 
tendencies of this important statement correspond largely 
to the desires and principles professed by Germany. 
These principles especially include self-government and 
equality of rights for all nations. Germany would be 
sincerely glad if in recognition of this principle countries 
like Ireland and India, which do not enjoy the benefits 
of political independence, should now obtain their free- 
dom. The German people also repudiate all alliances 
which serve to force the countries into a competition for 
might and to involve them in a net of selfish intrigues. 
On the other hand Germany will gladly cooperate in all 
efforts to prevent future wars. The freedom of the seas, 
being a preliminary condition of the free existence of 
nations and the peaceful intercourse between them, as well 
as the open door for the commerce of all nations, has 
always formed part of the leading principles of Ger- 
many's political program. All the more the Imperial 
Government regrets that the attitude of her enemies who 



292 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

are so entirely opposed to peace makes it impossible for 
the world at present to bring about the realization of 
these lofty ideals. Germany and her allies were ready 
to enter now into a discussion of peace and had set down 
as basis the guaranty of existence, honor and free develop- 
ment of their peoples. Their aims, as has been expressly 
stated in the note of December 12, 1916, were not directed 
towards the destruction or annihilation of their enemies 
and were according to their conviction perfectly com- 
patible with the rights of the other nations. As to Bel- 
gium, for which such warm and cordial sympathy is felt 
in the United States, the Chancellor had declared only 
a few weeks previously that its annexation had never 
formed part of Germany's intentions. The peace to be 
signed with Belgium was to provide such conditions 
in that country, with which Germany desires to maintain 
friendly neighborly relations, that Belgium should not 
be used again by Germany's enemies for the purpose of 
instigating continuous hostile intrigues. Such precau- 
tionary measures are all the more necessary, as Ger- 
many's enemies have repeatedly stated not only in 
speeches delivered by their leading men, but also in the 
statutes of the economical conference in Paris, that it is 
their intention not to treat Germany as an equal, even 
after peace has been restored, but to continue their 
hostile attitude and especially to wage a systematical 
economical war against her. 

The attempt of the four allied powers to bring about 
peace has failed owing to the lust of conquest of their 
enemies, who desired to dictate the conditions of peace. 
Under the pretence of following the principle of nation- 
ality our enemies have disclosed their real aims in this 
war, viz., to dismember and dishonor Germany, Austria- 
Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria. To the wish of recon- 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 293 

ciliation they oppose the will of destruction. They desire 
a fight to the bitter end. 

A new situation has thus been created which forces 
Germany to new decisions. Since two years and a half 
England is using her naval power for a criminal attempt 
to force Germany into submission by starvation. In 
brutal contempt of International Law the group of Pow- 
ers led by England does not only curtail the legitimate 
trade of their opponents but they also by ruthless press- 
ure compel neutral countries either to altogether forego 
every trade not agreeable to the Entente-Powers or to 
limit it according to their arbitrary decrees. The Ameri- 
can Government knows the steps which have been taken 
to cause England and her allies to return to the rules of 
International Law and to respect the freedom of the seas. 
The English Government, however, insists upon continu- 
ing its war of starvation, which does not at all affect the 
military power of its opponents, but compels women and 
children, the sick and the aged to suffer, for their country, 
pains and privations which endanger the vitality of the 
nation. Thus British tyranny mercilessly increases the 
suffering of the world indifferent to the laws of human- 
ity, indifferent to the protests of the neutrals whom they 
severely harm, indifferent even to the silent longing for 
peace among England's own allies. Each day of the 
terrible struggle causes new destruction, new sufferings. 
Each day shortening the war will, on both sides, preserve 
the life of thousands of brave soldiers and be a benefit 
to mankind. 

The Imperial Government could not justify before its 
own conscience, before the German people and before 
history the neglect of any means destined to bring 
about the end of the war. Like the President of the 
United States the Imperial Government had hoped to 



294 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

reach this goal by negotiations. After the attempts to 
come to an understanding with the Entente-Powers have 
been answered by the latter with the announcement of an 
intensified continuation of the war, the Imperial Govern- 
ment — in order to serve the welfare of mankind in a 
higher sense and not to wrong its own people — is now 
compelled to continue the fight for existence, again forced 
upon it, with the full employment of all the weapons 
which are at its disposal. 

Sincerely trusting that the people and Government of 
the United States will understand the motives for this 
decision and its necessity, the Imperial Government hopes 
that the United States may view the new situation from 
the lofty heights of impartiality and assist, on their part, 
to prevent further misery and avoidable sacrifice of 
human life. 

Enclosing memoranda regarding the details of the 
contemplated military measures at sea, I remain, etc., 

(Signed) J. Bernstorfp. 



Part of Memorandum Accompanying' the Above Note 

The instructions given to the commanders of German 
submarines provide for a sufficiently long period during 
which the safety of passengers on unarmed enemy pas- 
senger ships is guaranteed. 

Americans, en route to the blockade zone on enemy 
freight steamers, are not endangered, as the enemy ship- 
ping firms can prevent such ships in time from entering 
the zone. 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 295 

Sailing of regular American passenger steamers may 
continue undisturbed after February 1, 1917, if 

(a) the port of destination is Falmouth 

(b) sailing to or coming from that port course is taken 
via the Scilly Islands and a point 50 degrees north 20 
degrees west, 

(c) the steamers are marked in the following way 
which must not be allowed to other vessels in. American 
ports: On ships' hull and superstructure three vertical 
stripes one meter wide each to be painted alternately 
white and red. Each mast should show a large flag 
checkered white and red, and the stern the American 
national flag. 

Care should be taken that, during dark, national flag 
and painted marks are easily recognizable from a distance 
and that the boats are well lighted throughout. 

(d) one steamer a week sails in each direction with 
arrival at Falmouth on Sunday and departure from Fal- 
mouth on Wednesday. 

(e) The United States Government guarantees that 
no contraband (according to German contraband list) is 
carried by those steamers. 



296 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS SEVERED 

The United States Secretary of State to the German 
Ambassador 

Department of State, 
Washington, February 3, 1917. 
Excellency : 

In acknowledging the note with accompanying memo- 
randa, which you delivered into my hands on the after- 
noon of January 31st, and which announced the purpose 
of your Government as to the future conduct of sub- 
marine warfare, I would direct your attention to the 
following statements appearing in the correspondence 
which has passed between the Government of the United 
States and the Imperial German Government in regard 
to submarine warfare. 

This Government on April 18, 1916, in presenting the 
case of the ' ' Sussex, ' ' declared — 

"If it is still the purpose of the Imperial Government 
to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare against 
vessels of commerce by the use of submarines without 
regard to what the Government of the United States 
must consider the sacred and indisputable rules of inter- 
national law and the universally recognized dictates of 
humanity, the Government of the United States is at last 
forced to the conclusion that there is but one course it 
can pursue. Unless the Imperial Government should now 
immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its 
present methods of submarine warfare against passenger 
and freight-carrying vessels, the Government of the 
United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic 
relations with the German Empire altogether." 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 297 

In reply to the note from which the above declaration 
is quoted Your Excellency 's Government stated in a note 
dated May 4, 1916— 

"The German Government, guided by this idea, noti- 
fies the Government of the United States that the Ger- 
man naval forces have received the following orders: 
In accordance with the general principles of visit and 
search and destruction of merchant vessels recognized 
by international law, such vessels, both within and with- 
out the area declared as naval war zone, shall not be sunk 
without warning and without saving human lives, unless 
these ships attempt to escape or offer resistance. 

"But neutrals can not expect that Germany, forced 
to fight for her existence, shall, for the sake of neutral 
interests, restrict the use of an effective weapon if her 
enemy is permitted to continue to apply at will methods 
of warfare violating the rules of international law. Such 
a demand would be incompatible with the character of 
neutrality, and the German Government is convinced 
that the Government of the United States does not think 
of making such a demand, knowing that the Govern- 
ment of the United States has repeatedly declared that 
it is determined to restore the principle of the freedom 
of the seas, from whatever quarter it has been violated. ' ' 

To this reply this Government made answer on May 8, 
1916, in the following language : 

"The Government of the United States feels it neces- 
sary to state that it takes it for granted that the Imperial 
German Government does not intend to imply that the 
maintenance of its newly announced policy is in any way 
contingent upon the course or result of diplomatic nego- 
tiations between the Government of the United States 



298 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

and any other belligerent Government, notwithstanding 
the fact that certain passages in the Imperial Govern- 
ment's note of the 4th instant might appear to be sus- 
ceptible of that construction. In order, however, to avoid 
any possible misunderstanding, the Government of the 
United States notifies the Imperial Government that it 
can not for a moment entertain, much less discuss, a sug- 
gestion that respect by German naval authorities for the 
rights of citizens of the United States upon the high seas 
should in any way or in the slightest degree be made 
contingent upon the conduct of any other Government 
affecting the rights of neutrals and noncombatants. Re- 
sponsibility in such matters is single, not joint; absolute, 
not relative. ' ' 

To this Government's note of May 8th no reply was 
made by the Imperial Government. 

In one of the memoranda accompanying the note under 
acknowledgment, after reciting certain alleged illegal 
measures adopted by Germany's enemies, this statement 
appears : 

"The Imperial Government, therefore, does not doubt 
that the Government of the United States will under- 
stand the situation thus forced upon Germany by the 
Entente- Allies' brutal methods of war and by their 
determination to destroy the Central Powers, and that 
the Government of the United States will further realize 
that the now openly disclosed intentions of the Entente- 
Allies give back to Germany the freedom of action which 
she reserved in her note addressed to the Government 
of the United States on May 4, 1916. 

"Under these circumstances Germany will meet the 
illegal measures of her enemies by forcibly preventing, 
after February 1, 1917, in a zone around Great Britain, 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 299 

France, Italy, and in the eastern Mediterranean all navi- 
gation, that of neutrals included, from and to England 
and from and to France, etc., etc. All ships met within 
the zone will be sunk." 

In view of this declaration, which withdraws suddenly 
and without prior intimation the solemn assurance given 
in the Imperial Government's note of May 4, 1916, this 
Government has no alternative consistent with the dig- 
nity and honor of the United States but to take the 
course which it explicitly announced in its note of April 
18, 1916, it would take in the event that the Imperial 
Government did not declare and effect an abandonment 
of the methods of submarine warfare then employed and 
to which the Imperial Government now purpose again 
to resort. 

The President has, therefore, directed me to announce 
to Your Excellency that all diplomatic relations between 
the United States and the German Empire are severed, 
and that the American Ambassador at Berlin will be 
immediately withdrawn, and in accordance with such 
announcement to deliver to Your Excellency your pass- 
ports. 

I have, etc. 

Robert Lansing. 



300 HISTORY -MAKING DOCUMENTS 

AMERICAN MINISTER WITHDRAWN 
FROM BELGIUM 

Department of State, 
Washington, March 24, 1917. 

By direction of the President, the Minister at Brussels 
has been instructed to withdraw from Belgium, with all 
diplomatic and consular officers, and take up his official 
residence at Havre. 

After consultation with the Commission for Relief 
in Belgium, Mr. Whitlock has also been instructed to 
arrange for the departure of the American members of 
the Commission. 

This step, the seriousness of which is fully appreciated 
by the Government, was taken only after careful con- 
sideration and full consultation with all the interests 
involved. 

When diplomatic relations with Germany were broken 
off the normal procedure would have been to withdraw 
the Minister at Brussels and the American members of 
the Relief Commission. Both this Government and the 
Commission, however, felt a heavy moral responsibility 
for the millions of innocent civilians behind the Ger- 
man lines, and it was decided that the work of the Com- 
mission must be kept going despite all difficulties until 
continued American participation became impossible. 
For over two years it has been the single-minded pur- 
pose of this Government and the Commission to see that 
these ten millions of civilians were fed, and, with this 
end in view, the Americans concerned have submitted to 
restrictions imposed on them by the German authorities 
which, under ordinary conditions, would never have 
been tolerated. 

Immediately after t.ie break in relations the German 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 301 

authorities in Brussels withdrew from Mr. Whitlock the 
diplomatic privileges and immunities which he had until 
that time enjoyed. His courier .service to The Hague 
was stopped; he was denied the privilege of communi- 
cating with the Department of State in cipher, and later 
even in plain language. The members of the Relief 
Commission were placed under great restrictions of 
movement and communication which hampered the effi- 
cient performance of their task. In spite of all these 
difficulties the Government and Commission were deter- 
mined to keep the work going till the last possible mo- 
ment. 

Now, however, a more serious difficulty has arisen. In 
the course of the past 10 days several of the Commis- 
sion's ships have been attacked without warning by 
German submarines in flagrant violation of the solemn 
engagements of the German Government. Protests ad- 
dressed by this Government to'Berlin through the inter- 
mediary of the Spanish Government have not been 
answered. The German Government's disregard of its 
written undertakings causes grave concern as to the 
future of the relief work. In any event it is felt that 
the American staff of the Commission can no longer 
serve with advantage in Belgium. Although a verbal 
promise has been made that the members of the Commis- 
sion would be permitted to leave if they so desire, the 
German Government's observance of its other undertak- 
ings has not been such that the department wou'd feel 
warranted in accepting responsibility for leaving these 
American citizens in German-occupied territory. 

This Government has approved the proposal of the 
Netherlands Government to send into Belgium a certain 
number of Netherlands subjects to carry on the work 
thus far performed by the American staff. 



302 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

ALLIES STAND TOGETHER 

Text of the Allied Agreement to Make No Separate 
Peace with Germany 

The Italian Government having decided to accede to 
the declaration between the British, French and Russian 
Governments signed in London on September 5, 1914, 
which declaration was acceded to by the Japanese Gov- 
ernment on October 19, 1915, the undersigned, duly 
authorized thereto by their respective Governments, de- 
clare as follows : 

The British, French, Italian, Japanese and Russian 
Governments mutually engage not to conclude peace 
separately during the present war. 

The five Governments agree that when terms of peace 
come to be discussed no one of the Allies will demand 
conditions of peace without previous agreement with 
each of the other Allies. 

Done at London this 30th day of November, 1915. 

E. Grey, 
Paul Cambon, 
Imperiali, 
K. Inouye, 
Brenckendorfp. 

The names signed are those, respectively, of the British 
secretary of state for foreign affairs and the ambassadors 
of the Governments named. 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 303 

ACT OF CONGRESS PROVIDING FOR 
THE "LIBERTY LOAN" 

An act to authorize an issue of bonds to meet expendi- 
tures for the national security and defense, and, for the 
purpose of assisting in the prosecution of the war, to 
extend credit to foreign governments, and for other pur* 
poses. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa^ 
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 
bled, That the Secretary of the Treasury, with the ap- 
proval of the President, is hereby authorized to borrow, 
from time to time, on the credit of the United States for 
the purposes of this Act, and to meet expenditures 
authorized for the national security and defense and 
other public purposes authorized by law not exceeding 
in the aggregate $5,000,000.00, exclusive of the sums 
authorized by section four of this Act, and to issue there- 
for bonds of the United States. 

The bonds herein authorized shall be in such form and 
subject to such terms and conditions of issue, conversion, 
redemption, maturities, payment, and rate and time of 
payment of interest, not exceeding three and one-half 
per centum per annum, as the Secretary of the Treasury 
may prescribe. The principal and interest thereof shall 
be payable in United States gold coin of the present 
standard of value and shall be exempt, both as to prin- 
cipal and interest, from all taxation, except estate or 
inheritance taxes, imposed by authority of the United 
States, or its possessions, or by any State or local taxing 
authority ; but such bonds shall not bear the circulation 
privilege. 

The bonds herein authorized shall first be offered at 



304 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

not less than par as a popular loan, under such regula- 
tions prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury as 
will give all citizens of the United States an equal oppor- 
tunity to participate therein; and any portion of the 
bonds so offered and not subscribed for may be otherwise 
disposed of at not less than par by the Secretary of the 
Treasury; but no commissions shall be allowed or paid 
on any bonds issued under authority of this Act. 

Sec. 2. That for the purpose of more effectually pro- 
viding for the national security and defense and prose- 
cuting the war by establishing credits in the United 
States for foreign governments, the Secretary of the 
Treasury, with the approval of the President, is hereby 
authorized, on behalf of the United States, to purchase, 
at par, from such foreign governments then engaged in 
war with the enemies of the United States, their obliga- 
tions hereafter issued, bearing the same rate of interest 
and containing in their essentials the same terms and con- 
ditions as those of the United States issued under au- 
thority of this Act; to enter into such arrangements as 
may be necessary or desirable for establishing such 
credits and for purchasing such obligations of foreign 
governments and for the subsequent payment thereof 
before maturity, but such arrangements shall provide 
that if any of the bonds of the United States issued and 
used for the purchase of such foreign obligations shall 
thereafter be converted into other bonds of the United 
States bearing a higher rate of interest than three and 
one-half per centum per annum under the provisions of 
section five of this Act, then and in that event the obliga- 
tions of such foreign governments held by the United 
States shall be, by such foreign governments, converted 
in like manner and extent into obligations bearing the 



HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 305 

same rate of interest as the bonds of the United States 
issued under the provisions of section five of this Act. 
For the purposes of this section there is appropriated, 
out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro- 
priated, the sum of $3,000,000,000, or so much thereof 
as may be necessary: Provided, That the authority 
granted by this section to the Secretary of the Treasury 
to purchase bonds from foreign governments, as afore- 
said, shall cease upon the termination of the war between 
the United States and the Imperial German Government. 

Sec. 3. That the Secretary of the Treasury, under 
such terms and conditions as he may prescribe, is hereby 
authorized to receive on or before maturity payment for 
any obligations of such foreign governments purchased 
on behalf of the United States, and to sell at not less 
than the purchase price any of such obligations and to 
apply the proceeds thereof, and any payments made by 
foreign governments on account of their said obligations 
to the redemption or purchase at not more than par and 
accrued interest of any bonds of the United States issued 
under authority of this Act; and if such bonds are not 
available for this purpose the Secretary of the Treasury 
shall redeem or purchase any other outstanding interest- 
bearing obligations of the United States which may at 
such time be subject to call or which may be purchased at 
not more than par and accrued interest. 

Sec. 4. That the Secretary of the Treasury, in his 
discretion, is hereby authorized to issue the bonds not 
already issued heretofore authorized by section thirty- 
nine of the Act approved August fifth, nineteen hundred 
and nine, entitled "An Act to provide revenue, equalize 
duties, and encourage the industries of the United States, 
and for other purposes"; section one hundred and 



306 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

twenty-four of the Act approved June third, nineteen 
hundred and sixteen, entitled "An Act for making fur- 
ther and more effectual provision for the national de- 
fense, and for other purposes"; section thirteen of the 
Act of September seventh, nineteen hundred and sixteen, 
entitled "An Act to establish a United States shipping 
board for the purpose of encouraging, developing, and 
creating a naval auxiliary and a naval reserve and a mer- 
chant marine to meet the requirements of the commerce 
of the United States with its Territories and possessions 
and with foreign countries, to regulate carriers by water 
engaged in the foreign and interstate commerce of the 
United States, and for other purposes" ; section four hun- 
dred of the Act approved March third, nineteen hundred 
and seventeen, entitled "An Act to provide increased 
revenue to defray the expenses of the increased appro- 
priations for the Army and Navy and the extensions of 
fortifications, and for other purposes"; and the public 
resolution approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and 
seventeen, entitled "Joint resolution to expedite the de- 
livery of materials, equipment, and munitions and to 
secure more expeditious construction of ships," in the 
manner and under the terms and conditions prescribed 
in section one of this Act. 

That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby author- 
ized to borrow on the credit of the United States from 
time to time, in addition to the sum authorized in section 
one of this Act, such additional amount, not exceeding 
$63,945,460 as may be necessary to redeem the three per 
cent loan of nineteen hundred and eight to nineteen hun- 
dred and eighteen, maturing August first, nineteen hun- 
dred and eighteen, and to issue therefor bonds of the 
United States in the manner and under the terms and 
conditions prescribed in section one of this Act. 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 307 

Sec. 5. That any series of bonds issued under author- 
ity of sections one and four of this Act may, under such 
terms and conditions as the Secretary of the Treasury 
may prescribe, be convertible into bonds bearing a higher 
rate of interest than the rate at which the same were 
issued if any subsequent series of bonds shall be issued at 
a higher rate of interest before the termination of the war 
between the United States and the Imperial German 
Government, the date of such termination to be fixed 
by a proclamation of the President of the United 
States. 

Sec. 6. That in addition to the bonds authorized by 
sections one and four of this Act, the Secretary of the 
Treasury is authorized to borrow from time to time, on 
the credit of the United States, for the purposes of this 
Act and to meet public expenditures authorized by law, 
such sum or sums as, in his judgment, may be necessary, 
and to issue therefor certificates of indebtedness at not 
less than par in such form and subject to such terms 
and conditions and at such rate of interest, not exceeding 
three and one-half per centum per annum, as he may 
prescribe ; and each certificate so issued shall be payable, 
with the interest accrued thereon, at such time, not ex- 
ceeding one year from the date of its issue, as the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury may prescribe. Certificates of in- 
debtedness herein authorized shall not bear the circula- 
tion privilege, and the sum of such certificates outstand- 
ing shall at no time exceed in the aggregate $2,000,- 
000,000, and such certificates shall be exempt, both as to 
principal and interest, from all taxation, except estate or 
inheritance taxes, imposed by authority of the United 
States, or its possessions, or by any State or local taxing 
authority. 



308 HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

Sec. 7. That the Secretary of the Treasury, in his dis- 
cretion, is hereby authorized to deposit in such banks and 
trust companies as he may designate the proceeds, or any 
part thereof, arising from the sale of the bonds and cer- 
tificates of indebtedness authorized by this Act, or the 
bonds previously authorized as described in section four 
of this Act, and such deposits may bear such rate of in- 
terest and be subject to such terms and conditions as the 
Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe : Provided,-That 
the amount so deposited shall not in any case exceed the 
amount withdrawn from any such bank or trust company 
and invested in such bonds or certificates of indebtedness 
plus the amount so invested by such bank or trust com- 
pany, and such deposits shall be secured in the manner 
required for other deposits by section fifty-one hundred 
and fifty-three, Revised Statutes, and amendments 
thereto: Provided further, That the provisions of sec- 
tion fifty-one hundred and ninety-one of the Revised 
Statutes, as amended by the Federal Reserve Act and the 
amendments thereof, with reference to the reserves re- 
quired to be kept by national banking associations and 
other member banks of the Federal Reserve System, shall 
not apply to deposits of public moneys by the United 
States in designated depositaries. 

Sec. 8. That in order to pay all necessary expenses, 
including rent, connected with any operations under this 
Act, a sum not exceeding one-tenth of one per centum 
of the amount of bonds and one-tenth of one per centum 
of the amount of certificates of indebtedness herein au- 
thorized is hereby appropriated, or as much thereof as 
may be necessary, out of any money in the Treasury not 
otherwise appropriated, to be expended as the Secretary 
of the Treasury may direct : Provided, That, in addition 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 309 

to the reports now required by law, the Secretary of the 
Treasury shall, on the first Monday in December, nine- 
teen hundred and seventeen, and annually thereafter, 
transmit to the Congress a detailed statement of all ex- 
penditures under this Act. 

Approved, April 24, 1917. 



PRESIDENT WILSON'S REMARKABLE 

NOTE TO RUSSIA STATING OUR 

WAR AIMS 

In view of the approaching visit of the American dele- 
gation to Russia to express the deep friendship of the 
American people for the people of Russia and to discuss 
the best and most practical means of cooperation be- 
tween the two peoples in carrying the present struggle 
for the freedom of all peoples to a successful consumma- 
tion, it seems opportune and appropriate that I should 
state again in the light of this new partnership the 
objects the United States has had in mind in entering 
the war. 

Those objects have been very much beclouded during 
the last few weeks by mistaken and misleading state- 
ments, and the issues at stake are too momentous, too 
tremendous, too significant for the whole human race, 
to permit any misinterpretations or misunderstandings, 
however slight, to remain uncorrected for a moment. 

The war has begun to go against Germany, and in 
their desperate desire to escape the inevitable ultimate 
defeat, those who are in authority in Germany are using 
every possible instrumentality, are making use even of 



310 HISTOEY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

the influence of groups and parties among their own 
subjects, to whom they have never been just or fair or 
even tolerant, to promote a propaganda on both sides 
of the sea which will preserve for them their influence 
at home and their power abroad, to the undoing of the 
very men they are using. 

The position of America in this war is so clearly 
avowed that no man can be excused for mistaking it. 
America seeks no material profit or aggrandizement of 
any kind. She is fighting for no advantage or selfish 
object of her own, but for the liberation of peoples 
everywhere from the aggressions of autocratic force. 

The ruling classes in Germany have begun of late to 
profess a like liberality and justice of purpose, but only 
to preserve the power they have set up in Germany 
and the selfish advantages which they have wrongly 
gained for themselves and their private projects of 
power all the way from Berlin to Bagdad and beyond. 

Government after government has, by their influence, 
without open conquest of its territory, been linked to- 
gether in a net of intrigue directed against nothing 
less than the peace and liberty of the world. The 
meshes of that intrigue must be broken, but cannot be 
broken unless wrongs already done are undone, and 
adequate measures must be taken to prevent it from 
ever again being rewoven or repaired. 

Of course, the imperial German government and 
those whom it is using for their own undoing are seek- 
ing to obtain pledges that the war will end in the res- 
toration of the status quo ante. It was the status quo 
ante out of which this iniquitous war issued forth, the 
power of the imperial German government within the 
empire and its widespread domination and influence 
outside of that empire. That status must be altered in 



HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 3H 

such fashion as to prevent any such hideous thing from 
ever happening again. 

"We are fighting for the liberty, the self-government, 
and the undictated development of all peoples, and 
every feature of the settlement that concludes this war 
must be conceived and executed for that purpose. 
"Wrongs must first be righted and then adequate safe- 
guards must be created to prevent their being com- 
mitted again. We ought not to consider remedies 
merely because they have a pleasing and sonorous 
sound. Practical questions can be settled only by 
practical means. Phrases will not achieve the result. 
Effective readjustments will; and whatever readjust- 
ments are necessary must be made. 

But they must follow a principle, and that principle 
is plain. No people must be forced under sovereignty 
under which it does not wish to live. No territory must 
change hands except for the purpose of securing those 
who inhabit it a fair chance of life and liberty. No 
indemnities must be insisted on except those that consti- 
tute payment for manifest wrongs done. No readjust- 
ments of power must be made except such as will tend 
to secure the future peace of the world and the future 
welfare and happiness of its peoples. 

And then the freed peoples of the world must draw 
together in some common covenant, some genuine and 
practical cooperation that will in effect combine their 
force to secure peace and justice in the dealings of 
nations with one another. The brotherhood of mankind 
must no longer be a fair but empty phrase ; it must be 
given a structure of force and reality. The nations must 
realize their common life and effect a workable part- 
nership to secure that life against the aggressions of 
autocratic and self -pleasing power. 



312 HISTORY-MAKING DOCUMENTS 

For these things we can afford to pour out blood and 
treasure. For these are the things we have always pro- 
fessed to desire, and unless we pour out blood and treas- 
ure now and succeed we may never be able to unite or 
show conquering force again in the great cause of human 
liberty. 

The day has come to conquer or submit. If the forces 
of autocracy can divide us they will overcome us; if we 
stand together victory is certain, and the liberty which 
victory will secure. "We can afford then to be generous, 
but we cannot afford then or now to be weak or omit any 
single guarantee of justice and security. 



M. VIVIANI'S SPEECH TO HOUSE OF 
REPRESENTATIVES . 

Gentlemen, once more my fellow countrymen and I are 
admitted to the honor of being present at a sitting in a 
legislative Chamber. May I be permitted to express our 
emotion at this solemn derogation against rules more 
than a century old, and, so far as my own person is con- 
cerned, may I say that, as a member of Parliament, accus- 
tomed for 20 years to the passions and storms which sweep 
through political assemblies, I appreciate more than any- 
one at this moment the supreme joy of being near this 
chair, which is in such a commanding position that, how- 
ever feeble may be the voice that speaks thence, it is 
heard over the whole world. 

Gentlemen, I will not thank you, not because our grati- 
tude fails, but because new words to express it fail. No ; 
I do not thank you for your welcome. We have all felt, 
my companions and myself, that the manifestations which 
rose toward our persons came not only from your lips. 
We have felt that you were not merely fulfilling the obli- 
gations of international courtesy. Suddenly, in all its 
charming intimacy, the complexity of the American soul 
was revealed to us. 

When one meets an American one is supposed to meet 
a practical man, merely a practical man, caring only for 
business, only interested in business. But when at certain 
hours in private life one studies the American soul, one 
discovers at the same time how fresh and delicate it is ; 
and when at certain moments of public life one considers 
the soul of the Nation, then one sees all the force of the 
ideals that rise from it ; so that this American people, in 
its perfect balance, is at once practical and sentimental, 

313 



314 M. VIVIANI'S SPEECH 

a realizer and a dreamer, and is always ready, to place its 
practical qualities at the disposal of its puissant thoughts. 

And see, gentlemen, what a glorious comparison, to our 
profit, yours also, we can establish between our enemies 
and us. Intrusted with a mandate from a free people, 
we came among free men to compare our ideas, to ex- 
change our views, to measure the whole extent of the prob- 
lems raised by this war ; and all the allied nations, simply 
because they repose on democratic institutions, through 
their governments meet in the same lofty region on equal 
terms, in full liberty. 

I well know that at this very hour, in the central 
empire, there is an absolute monarch who binds to his 
will by vassal links of steel other peoples. It has been 
said this was a sign of strength; it is only a derisive 
appearance of strength. And in truth, only a few weeks 
ago, on the eve of the day when outraged America was 
about to rise in its force, on the morrow of the day when 
the Russian revolution, faithful to its alliance, called at 
once its soldiers to arms and its people to independence, 
this absolute monarch was seen to totter on the steps of 
his throne as he felt the first breath of the tempest pass 
over his crown. And he bent toward his people in humil- 
iation, and in order to win its sympathy borrowed from 
free peoples the highest institutions and promised his 
subjects universal suffrage. 

Here, as in the crucial hours of our history as in these 
of yours, it is liberty which clears the way for our soldiers. 
"We are all now united in our common effort for civiliza- 
tion, for right. 

The day before yesterday, in a public meeting at which 
I was present, I heard one of your greatest orators say 
with deep emotion, "It has been sworn on the tomb of 
Washington." And then I understood the full emotion 



M. VIVIANI'S SPEECH 315 

and import of those words. If Washington could rise 
from his tomb, if from his sacred mound he could view the 
world as it now is, shrunk to smaller proportions by the 
lessening of material and moral distances and the min- 
gling of every kind of communication between men, he 
would feel his labors are not yet concluded, and that just 
as a man of superior and powerful mind has a debt to all 
other men, so a superior and powerful nation owes a debt 
to other nations, and after establishing its own indepen- 
dence must aid others to maintain their independence or 
to conquer it. It is the mysterious logic of history which 
President Wilson so marvelously understood, thanks to a 
mind as vigorous as it is subtle, as capable of analysis as it 
is of synthesis, of minute observation followed by swift 
action. It has been sworn on the tomb of Washington. It 
has been sworn on the tomb of our allied soldiers, fallen 
in a sacred cause. It has been sworn by the bedside of 
our wounded men. It has been sworn on the heads of 
our orphan children. It has been sworn on cradles and 
on tombs. It has been sworn. 



ADDRESS OF THE PRINCE OF UDINE 

Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, no one could 
appreciate the honor of your invitation more than myself 
and my colleagues. 

To address the Representatives of the greatest among 
new democracies at a time when the destinies of humanity 
are awaiting decision, at a time when our destiny and 
yours depend on the issue of the war, to bring you the 
greeting of distant brothers who are fighting for the same 
ideals at the foot of the snowy Alps or in the deadly 
trenches, to express to you our feelings and our sympathy 
for your feelings — all those are for me so many reasons 
for legitimate pride. [Applause.] 

During our brief stay among you we have found 
everywhere the most joyous welcome and the most 
friendly cordiality. Everywhere it was not only friendly 
words that greeted us but also friendly souls who wel- 
comed us. 

We have felt deeply moved by this. 

We know, gentlemen, that such cordial sentiments, 
such hearty friendship, are meant not so much for our 
persons as for our beautiful and distant country; our 
country, of which every foot is sacred to us because of 
its century-old greatness and sufferings and because of 
the noble share which it has always had in human thought 
and history, [xipplause.] 

But your great Eepublic, when it grants us such cour- 
teous hospitality, honors still more that which at the 
present moment is dearest to us — the efforts of Italy's 
soldiers, the noble sacrifice of so many young lives freely 
given for their country and for civilization and in defense 

316 



ADDRESS OF THE PRINCE OF UDINE 317 

of ideals which you have made your own and which we 
all love. 

In the name of the soldiers of Italy, one of whom I am 
proud to be ; in the name of all those who are fighting on 
the mountains, on the plains, and on the treacherous seas ; 
in the name of those to whom your words of friendship 
have brought a message of hope and faith across the 
ocean, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. [Ap- 
plause.] 

The aims of the war for the allied nations were pointed 
out by President Wilson in his magnificent message, 
which will not only remain in the minds of our descend- 
ants as a historic event, but which has already aroused, 
because of its moral force, intense admiration among all 
civilized peoples. We shall be satisfied, whatever sacri- 
fices we may be called upon to make, when the rights of 
humanity are assured, when the guaranties of peace are 
effectual, and when free nations are able to work for their 
own prosperity and elevation. 

President Wilson has proclaimed that to the Americans 
right is more precious than peace and that the people of 
the United States are ready to shed their blood in defense 
of these principles in the name of which they became a 
nation. 

For the sake of the same principles we are ready to 
face every sacrifice and every sorrow. 

We are fighting a terrible war. Our enemies were long 
since prepared for it, while we were content to live, trust- 
ing in peace, and only sought to contribute to the devel- 
opment of our people and to the progress of our country, 
almost unconscious of the clouds which so suddenly grew 
dark over our heads. 

We came into the war when we realized that there was 
no room for neutrals and that neutrality was neither 



318 ADDRESS OF THE PEINCE OF TJDINE 

possible nor desirable, when the freedom of all democratic 
nations was threatened and the very existence of free 
peoples was at stake. 

Ever since that day we have not hesitated before any 
danger or any suffering. Our wide fighting front pre- 
sents conditions of exceptional difficulty. The enemy is, 
or has been until now, in possesion of the best positions. 
He has dug deep trenches; he has concealed his guns 
among the mountains. We are even compelled to fight at 
altitudes of eight and ten thousand feet, in spots where 
it seemed impossible that any fighting should ever take 
place. We are alone on our wide and treacherous front, 
and every step forward that we take, every progress that 
we accomplish, costs us great efforts and many lives. The 
enthusiasm of our soldiers has often helped them among 
the glaciers of the Alps and the many snares of the Carso 
to triumph over difficulties which seemed to defy every 
human effort. But the deep faith which burns in them 
kept their strength alive. [Applause.] 

We must, we will, triumph over other difficulties and 
other insidious devices. 

Nature, which gave us our pure skies, our mild climate, 
has denied us almost entirely the two great necessities of 
modern industry — coal and iron. Therefore, with indus- 
tries still in course of formation, Italy has had ever since 
their inception to overcome obstacles which appeared 
insuperable. Italy occupies one of the first places in 
Europe as regards the number and power of her water- 
falls ; but this wealth, which constitutes the great reserve 
of the future, has only been partly exploited until now. 
The treacherous enemy, who has long since prepared the 
weapons of aggression, not having obtained victory on 
the field, is now trying by means of submarine warfare 
to endanger our existence, to cause a scarcity of food, and, 



ADDRESS OF THE PRINCE OF TJDINE 319 

above all, a scarcity of the coal which Italy needs for her 
ammunition factories, for her railways, and for her 
industries. 

"We have reduced our consumption of all necessities, 
and we are ready to reduce it still further within the lim- 
its of possibility. We do not complain of the privations 
that we have to endure. Wealth itself has no value if life 
and liberty are endangered. And when millions of sol- 
diers offer their young lives for their country there is not 
one among the civil population who is not ready to make 
any sacrifice. 

But to overcome the dangers of the submarines, which, 
in defiance of every law of humanity, are not only destroy- 
ing wealth but endangering the lives of peaceful travelers, 
sinking hospital ships, and murdering women and chil- 
dren, we must all make a great effort. 

We must unite all our forces to oppose the strongest 
resistance to the insidious devices of the enemy. You 
possess a great and magnificent industrial organization. 
You, more than anyone, are in a position to put an end 
to the enemy's barbarous dream and to create with your 
energy much more than he can destroy. [Applause.] 

This great and terrible trial can only make us better 
men. They who know how to offer to the fatherland their 
wealth and their lives; they who give themselves unto 
death and, more than themselves, that which is sweetest 
and most sacred, their children; they who are ready to 
suffer and to die ; they will know when the morrow dawns 
how to contribute to civilization new elements of moral 
nobility and of strength. [Applause.] 

We must not grieve over our sorrows. When we fight 
for the rights of humanity we are conscious that we are 
elevating ourselves morally. 

When America proclaimed herself one with us a great 



320 ADDRESS OF THE PRINCE OF UDINE 

joy ran through every city and every little village of 
Italy. We knew the full value of your cooperation, and 
at the same time we appreciated the nobility of your 
sentiments. 

The families of 3,000,000 Italians who dwelt in the 
United States under the protection of your hospitable and 
just laws felt a deep sense of joy. 

Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, the words 
which His Majesty the King of Italy, first among our 
soldiers, wrote to your President expressed his feelings 
and those of all his people. 

To-morrow when the news reaches Italy that this Con- 
gress, which represents the will of the American Nation, 
has desired to give to our mission the supreme honor of 
welcoming it in its midst your friendly words will reach 
the farthermost points where men are fighting and suffer- 
ing. And in the trenches, at the foot of the majestic Alps, 
there where the struggle is bitterest and where death is 
ever present, a thrill of joy and of hope will be felt — the 
joy of a sincere union, the hope of certain victory. [Pro- 
longed applause and cheers.] 



REMARKS OF 
RIGHT HOST. ARTHUR J. BALFOUR 

Mr. Balfour. Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen of 
the House of Representatives, will you permit me, on 
behalf of my friends and myself, to offer you my deepest 
and sineerest thanks for the rare and valued honor which 
you have done us by receiving us here to-day? We all 
feel the greatness of this honor, but I think to none of us 
can it come home so closely as to one who, like myself, 
has been for 43 years in the service of a free assembly like 
your own. I rejoice to think that a member — a very old 
member, I am sorry to say — of the British House of Com- 
mons has been received here to-day by this great sister 
assembly with such kindness as you have shown to me 
and to my friends. [Applause.] 

Ladies and gentlemen, these two assemblies are the 
greatest and the oldest of the free assemblies now govern- 
ing great nations in the world. The history indeed of the 
two is very different. The beginnings of the British House 
of Commons go back to a dim historic past, and its full 
rights and status have only been conquered and perma- 
nently secured after centuries of political struggle. Your 
fate has been a happier one. You were called into exist- 
ence at a much later stage of social development. You 
came into being complete and perfected and all your pow- 
ers determined, and your place in the Constitution se- 
cured beyond chance of revolution; but, though the his- 
tory of these two great assemblies is different, each of 
them represents the great democratic principle to which 
we look forward as the security for the future peace of 
the world. [Applause.] All of the free assemblies now 
to be found governing the great nations of the earth 

321 



322 REMAEKS OF EIGHT HON. A. J. BALFOUR 

have been modeled either upon your practice or upon 
ours, or upon both combined. 

Mr. Speaker, the compliment paid to the mission from 
Great Britain by such an assembly and upon such an occa- 
sion is one not one of us is ever likely to forget, but there 
is something, after all, even deeper and more significant 
in the circumstances under which I now have the honor 
to address you, than any which arise out of the inter- 
change of courtesies, however sincere, between two great 
and friendly nations. We all, I think, feel instinctively 
that this is one of the great moments in the history of the 
world and that what is now happening on both sides of the 
Atlantic represents the drawing together of great and 
free peoples for mutual protection against the aggression 
of military despotism. [Prolonged applause and cheers.] 

I am not one of those and none of you are among those 
who are such bad democrats as to say that democracies 
make no mistakes. All free assemblies have made blun- 
ders ; sometimes they have committed crimes. Why is it, 
then, that we look forward to the spread of free institu- 
tions throughout the world, and especially among our 
present enemies, as one of the greatest guaranties of the 
future peace of the world? I will tell you, gentlemen, 
how it seems to me. It is quite true that the people and 
the representatives of the people may be betrayed by some 
momentary gust of passion into a policy which they ulti- 
mately deplore, but it is only a military despotism of the 
German type which can, through generations if need be, 
pursue steadily, remorselessly, unscrupulously, the ap- 
palling object of dominating the civilization of mankind. 
[Applause.] And mark you, this evil, this menace under 
which we are now suffering, is not one which diminishes 
with the growth of knowledge and the progress of mate- 
rial civilization, but on the contrary it increases with 



REMARKS OF RIGHT HON. A. J. BALFOUR 323 

them. When I was young we used to flatter ourselves 
that progress inevitably meant peace, and that growth 
of knowledge was always accompanied, as its natural 
fruit, by the growth of good will among the nations of 
the earth. Unhappily we know better now, and we know 
there is such a thing in the world as a power which can 
with unvarying persistency focus all the resources of 
knowledge and of civilization into the one great task of 
making itself the moral and material master of the world. 
It is against that danger that we, the free peoples of 
western civilization, have banded ourselves together. 
[Applause.] It is in that great cause that we are going 
to fight and are now fighting this very moment side by 
side. [Applause.] In that cause we shall surely con- 
quer [applause], and our children will look back to this 
fateful date as the one day from which democracies can 
feel secure that their progress, their civilization, their 
rivalry, if need be, will be conducted, not on German 
lines, but in that friendly and Christian spirit which 
really befits the age in which we live. 

Mr. Speaker, ladies, and gentlemen, I beg most sin- 
cerely to repeat again how heartily I thank you for the 
cordial welcome which you have given us to-day, and to 
repeat my profound sense of the significance of this 
unique meeting. [Great applause.] 

The members of the English commission took their 
places at the right of the Speaker's rostrum and the 
Members of the House were presented to them, the Presi- 
dent of the United States accompanying the Members. 

The distinguished visitors were then escorted from, 
the Hall of the House. 



324 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

PRESIDENT WILSON'S REPLY TO THE 

SECOND PEACE PLEA OF THE 

POPE, AUGUST 27, 1917 

To His Holiness, Benedictus XV., Pope. 

In acknowledgment of the communication of your 
holiness to the belligerent peoples, dated Aug. 1, 1917, 
the President of the United States requests me to trans- 
mit the following reply : 

Every heart that has not been blinded and hardened 
by this terrible war must be touched by this moving 
appeal of his holiness the pope, must feel the dignity 
and force of the humane and generous motives which 
prompted it, and must fervently wish that we might 
take the path of peace he so persuasively points out. 

But it would be folly to take it if it does not, in fact, 
lead to the goal he proposes. Our response must be 
based upon the stern facts and upon nothing else. 

It is not a mere cessation of arms he desires; it is a 
stable and enduring peace. This agony must not be 
gone through with again, and it must be a matter of 
very sober judgment what will insure us against it. 

His holiness in substance proposes that we return to 
the status quo ante bellum, and that then there be a 
general condonation, disarmament, and a concert of 
nations, based upon an acceptance of the principle of 
arbitration; that by a similar concert freedom of the 
seas be established; and that the territorial claims of 
France and Italy, the perplexing problems of the Bal- 
kan states, and the restitution of Poland be left to 
such conciliatory adjustments as may be possible in 
the new temper of such a peace, due regard being paid 



GEEAT SPEECHES 325 

to the aspirations of the peoples whose political fortunes 
and affiliations will be involved. 

It is manifest that no part of this program can be 
successfully carried out unless the restitution of the 
status quo ante furnishes a firm and satisfactory basis 
for it. 

The object of this war is to deliver the free peoples 
of the world from the menace and the actual power of 
a vast military establishment, controlled by an irrespon- 
sible government which, having secretly planned to 
dominate the world, proceeded to carry the plan out 
without regard either to the sacred obligations of treaty 
or the long established practices and long cherished 
principles of international action and honor; which 
chose its own time for the war; delivered its blow 
fiercely and suddenly ; stopped at no barrier either of 
law or of mercy ; swept a whole continent within the tide 
of blood — not the blood of soldiers only, but the blood 
of innocent women and children also, and of the help- 
less poor ; and now stands balked but not defeated, the 
enemy of four-fifths of the world. 

This power is not the German people. It is the ruth- 
less master of the German people. It is no business 
of ours how that great people came under its control 
or submitted with temporary zest to the domination of 
its purpose ; but it is our business to see to it that the 
history of the rest of the world is no longer left to its 
handling. 

To deal with such a power by way of peace upon the 
plan proposed by his holiness the pope would, so far as 
we can see, involve a recuperation of its strength and a 
renewal of its policy ; would make it necessary to create 
a permanent hostile combination of nations against the 
German people, who are its instruments; and would 



326 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

result in abandoning the new-born Russia to the in- 
trigue, the manifold subtle interference, and the certain 
counter revolution which would be attempted by all the 
malign influence to which the German government has 
of late accustomed the world. 

Can peace be based upon a restitution of its power 
or upon any word of honor it could pledge in a treaty 
of settlement and accommodation? 

Responsible statesmen must now everywhere see, if 
they never saw before, that no peace can rest securely 
upon political or economic restrictions meant to benefit 
some nations and cripple or embarrass others, upon 
vindictive action of any sort, or any kind of revenge 
or deliberate injury. 

The American people have suffered intolerable wrongs 
at the hands of the imperial German government, but 
they desire no reprisal upon the German people, who 
have themselves suffered all things in this war, which 
they did not choose. They believe that peace should 
rest upon the rights of peoples, not the rights of gov- 
ernments — the rights of peoples great or small, weak 
or powerful — their EQUAL right to freedom and secur- 
ity and self-government, and to a participation upon 
fair terms in the economic opportunities of the world — ■ 
the German people, of course, included, if they will 
accept equality and not seek domination. 

The test, therefore, of every plan of peace is this: 
Is it based upon the faith of all the peoples involved 
or merely upon the word of an ambitious and intriguing 
government, on the one hand, and of a group of free 
peoples on the other ? This is a test which goes to the 
root of the matter, and it is the test which must be 
applied. 

The purposes of the United States in this war are 



GREAT SPEECHES 327 

known to the whole world — to every people to whom 
the truth has been permitted to come. They do not 
need to be stated again. "We seek no material ad- 
vantage of any kind. We believe that the intolerable 
wrongs done in this war by the furious and brutal power 
of the imperial German government ought to be re- 
paired, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of 
any people — rather a vindication of the sovereignty 
both of those that are weak and those that are strong. 

Punitive damages, the dismemberment of empires, 
the establishment of selfish and exclusive economic 
leagues, we deem inexpedient and in the end worse than 
futile, no proper basis for a peace of any kind, least 
of all for an enduring peace. That must be based upon 
justice and fairness and the common rights of mankind. 

We cannot take the word of the present rulers of 
Germany as a guarantee of anything that is to endure, 
unless explicitly supported by such conclusive evidence 
of the will and purpose of the German people them- 
selves as the other peoples of the world would be justi- 
fied in accepting. Without such guarantees, treaties of 
settlement, agreements for disarmament, covenants to 
set up arbitration in the place of force, territorial ad- 
justments, reconstitutions of small nations, if made with 
the German government, no man, no nation could now 
depend on. We must await some new evidence of the 
purposes of the great peoples of the central powers. 
God grant it may be given soon and in a way to restore 
the confidence of all peoples everywhere in the faith 
of nations and the possibility of a covenanted peace. 

Kobert Lansing. 
Secretary of State of the United States of America. 



328 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

PRESIDENT WILSON'S ADDRESS .TO 

THE ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE 

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF 

LABOR AT BUFFALO, N. Y., 

NOVEMBER 12, 1917 

"Mr. President, Delegates of the American Federa- 
tion of Labor, Ladies and Gentlemen: I esteem it a 
great privilege and real honor to be thus admitted to 
your public councils. When your executive committee 
paid me the compliment of inviting me here I gladly 
accepted the invitation, because, it seems to me that 
this, above all other times in our history, is the time for 
common counsel for the drawing not only of the ener- 
gies but of the minds of the nation together. I thought 
that it was a welcome opportunity for disclosing to you 
some of the thoughts that have been gathering in my 
mind during the last momentous months. 

"I am introduced to you as the president of the 
United States, and yet I would be pleased if you would 
put the thought of the office into the background and 
regard me as one of your fellow citizens who has come 
here to speak, not the words of authority, but words of 
counsel, the words which men should speak to one an- 
other who wish to be frank in a moment more critical 
perhaps than the history of the world has ever yet 
known; a moment when it is every man's duty to for- 
get himself, to forget his own interests, to fill himself 
with the nobility of a great national and world concep- 
tion and act upon a new platform elevated above the 
ordinary affairs of life, elevated to where men have views 
of the long destiny of mankind. 



GREAT SPEECHES 329 

Tells How War Was Started 

"I think that in order to realize just what this mo- 
ment of counsel is, it is very desirable that we should 
remind ourselves just how this war came about and 
just what it is for. You can explain most wars very 
simply, but the explanation of this is not so simple. 
Its roots run deep into all the obscure soils of history 
and in my view this is the last decisive issue between the 
old principles of power and the new principles of free- 
dom. 

"The war was started by Germany. Her authorities 
deny that they started it. But I am willing to let the 
statement I have just made await the verdict of history. 
And the thing that needs to be explained is why Ger- 
many started the war. Remember what the position of 
Germany in the world was — as enviable a position as 
any nation has ever occupied. The whole world stood 
at admiration of her wonderful intellectual and mate- 
rial achievements and all the intellectual men of the 
world went to school to her. As a university man I 
have been surrounded by men trained in Germany, men 
who had resorted to Germany because nowhere else 
could they get such thorough and searching training, 
particularly in the principles of science and the princi- 
ples that underly modern material achievements. 

"Her men of science had made her industries perhaps 
the most competent industries in the world and the 
label 'made in Germany' was a guaranty of good work- 
manship and of sound material. She had access to all 
the markets of the world, and every other man who 
traded in those markets feared Germany because of her 
effective and almost irresistible competition. She had 
a place in the sun. Why was she not satisfied? What 



330 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

more did she want? There was nothing in the world 
of peace that she did not already have and have in 
abundance. 

"We boast of the extraordinary pace of American 
advancement. We show with pride the statistics of the 
increase of our industries and of the population of our 
cities. Well, those statistics did not match the recent 
statistics of Germany. Her old cities took on youth, 
grew faster than any American city ever grew ; her old 
industries opened their eyes and saw a new world and 
went out for its conquest; and yet the authorities of 
Germany were not satisfied. You have one part of the 
answer to the question why she was not satisfied in her 
methods of competition. There is no important indus- 
try in Germany upon which the government has not laid 
its hands to direct it and, when necessity arises, con- 
trol it. 

Unfair Competition in Germany 

' ' You have only to ask any man whom you meet who 
is familiar with the conditions that prevailed before 
the war in the matter of international competition to 
find out the methods of competition which the German 
manufacturers and exporters used under the patronage 
and support of the government of Germany. You will 
find that they were the same sorts of competition that 
we have tried to prevent by law within our own borders. 
If they could not sell their goods cheaper than we could 
sell ours at a profit to themselves they could get a sub- 
sidy from the government which made it possible to 
sell them cheaper anyhow ; and the conditions of compe- 
tition were thus controlled in large measure by the 
German government itself. But that did not satisfy 
the German government. 



GREAT SPEECHES 331 

"All the while there was lying behind its thought, 
in its dreams of the future, a political control which 
would enable it in the long run to dominate the labor 
and the industry of the world. They were not con- 
tent with success by superior achievement ; they wanted 
success by authority. 

' ' I suppose very few of you have thought much about 
the Berlin-to-Bagdad railway. The Berlin-to-Bagdad 
railway was constructed in order to run the threat of 
force down the flank of the industrial undertakings of 
half a dozen other countries, so that when German 
competition came in it would not be resisted too far — 
because there was always the possibility of getting 
German armies into the heart of that country quicker 
than any other armies could be got there. 

Thrusting Peace Before World 

"Look at the map of Europe now. Germany, in 
thrusting upon us again and again the discussion of 
peace, talks about what — talks about Belgium, talks 
about northern France, talks about Alsace-Lorraine. 
Well, those are deeply interesting subjects to us and 
to them, but they are not talking about the heart of 
the matter. 

Shows How Map Is Changed 

"Take the map and look at it. Germany has abso- 
lute control of Austria-Hungary, practical control of the 
Balkan states, control of Turkey, control of Asia Minor. 
I saw a map in which the whole thing was printed in 
appropriate black the other day and the black stretched 
all the way from Hamburg to Bagdad — the bulk of 
German power inserted into the heart of the world. 



332 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

If it can keep that she has kept all that her dreams 
contemplated when the war began. If she can keep 
that her power can disturb the world as long as she 
keeps it — always provided, for I feel bound to put this 
proviso in — always provided the present influences that 
control the German government continue to control it. 
"I believe that the spirit of freedom can get into 
the hearts of Germans and find as fine a welcome there 
as it can find in any other hearts. But the spirit of 
freedom does not suit the plans of the pan-Germans. 
Power cannot be used with concentrated force against 
free peoples if it is used by free people. 

Hint of Desire for Peace 

"You know how many intimations come to us from 
one of the central powers that it is more anxious for 
peace than the chief central power; and you know 
that it means that the people in that central power 
know that if the war ends as it stands they will in 
effect themselves be vassals of Germany, notwithstand- 
ing that their populations are compounded with all 
the people of that part of the world, and notwithstand- 
ing the fact that they do not wish in their pride and 
proper spirit of nationality to be so absorbed and dom- 
inated. 

"Germany is determined that the political power 
of the world shall belong to her. There have been such 
ambitions before. They have been in part realized. 
But never before have those ambitions been based upon 
so exact and precise and scientific a plan of domination. 

"May I not say that it is amazing to me that any 
group of people should be so ill informed as to suppose, 
as some groups in Russia apparently suppose, that any 
reforms planned in the interest of the people can live 



GREAT SPEECHES 333 

in the presence of a Germany powerful enough to under- 
mine or overthrow them by intrigue or force. Any 
body of free men that compounds with the present 
German government is compounding for its own de- 
struction. But that is not the whole of the story. Any 
man in America, or anywhere else, who supposes that 
the free industry and enterprise of the world can con- 
tinue if the pan-German plan is achieved and German 
power fastened upon the world, is as fatuous as the 
dreamers of Russia. 

See Pacifists as Stupid 

"What I am opposed to is not the feeling of the 
pacifists, but their stupidity. My heart is with them, 
but my mind has a contempt for them. I want peace, 
but I know how to get it, and they do not. 

Tells of House's Mission to Europe 

"You will notice that I sent a friend of mine, Col. 
House, to Europe, who is as great a lover of peace 
as any man in the world, but I did not send him on a 
peace mission ; I sent him to take part in a conference 
as to how the war was to be won, and he knows, as I 
know, that that is the way to get peace, if you want it 
for more than a few minutes. 

"All of this is a preface to the conference that I 
referred to with regard to what we are going to do. If 
we are true friends of freedom — our own or anybody 
else's — we will see that the power of this country and 
the productivity of this country is raised to its abso- 
lute maximum and that absolutely nobody is allowed 
to stand in the way of- it. 

"When I say that nobody is allowed to stand in the 



334 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

way I don't mean that they shall be prevented by the 
power of the government, but by the power of the 
American spirit. Our duty, if we are to do this great 
thing and show America to be what we believe her to 
be, the greatest hope and energy of the world, then 
must we be prepared to stand together night and day 
until the job is finished. 

Says Labor Must Be Free 

"While we are fighting for freedom we must see, 
among other things, that labor is free ; and that means 
a number of interesting things. It means not only 
that we must do what we have declared our purpose to 
do, see that the conditions of labor are not rendered 
more onerous by the war — but also that we shall see 
to it that the instrumentalities by which the conditions 
of labor are improved are not blocked or checked. That 
we must do. That has been the matter about which I 
have taken pleasure in conferring from time to time 
with your president, Mr. Gompers. And if I may be 
permitted to do so, I want to express my admiration of 
his patriotic courage, his large vision and his statesman- 
like sense of what is to be done. I like to lay my mind 
alongside of a mind that knows how to pull in harness. 
The horses that kick over the traces will have to be put 
in a corral. 

"Now to 'stand the ground' means that nobody must 
interrupt the processes of our energy, if the interrup- 
tion can possibly be avoided without the absolute inva- 
sion of freedom. To put it concretely, that means this : 
Nobody has a right to stop the processes of labor until 
all the methods of conciliation and settlement have been 
exhausted, and I might as well say right here that I 
am not talking to you alone. You sometimes stop th« 



GEEAT SPEECHES 335 

eourses of labor, but there are others who do the same. 
And I believe that I am speaking of my own experience 
not only but of the experience of others, when I say 
that you are reasonable in a larger number of cases than 
the capitalists." 

Would Export All Critics 

"I am not saying these things to them personally yet, 
because I haven't had a chance, but they have to be 
said, not in any spirit of criticism, because I would like 
to see all the critics exported. But in order to clean 
the atmosphere and come down to business everybody 
on both sides has got to transact business and the set- 
tlement is never impossible when both sides want to do 
the square and right things. Moreover, a settlement 
is always hard to avoid when the parties can be brought 
face to face. 

"I can differ with a man much more radically when 
he isn't in the room than I can when he is in the room, 
because then the awkward thing is that he can come 
back at me and answer what I say. It is always dan- 
gerous for a man to have the floor entirely to himself. 
And therefore we must insist in every instance that the 
parties come into each other's presence and there dis- 
cuss the issues between them and not separately in 
places which have no communication with each other. 

"I always like to remind myself of a delightful say- 
ing of an Englishman of a past generation, Charles 
Lamb. He was with a group of friends and he spoke 
very harshly of some man who was not present. I 
ought to say that Lamb stuttered a little and one of his 
friends said: 'Why, Charles, I didn't know that yow 
knew so and so?' 

" 'Oh,' he said, 'I don't. I can't hate a man I know.' 



336 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

Hard to Hate a Man You Know 

' ' There is a great deal of human nature, of very pleas- 
ant human nature, in that saying. It is hard to hate a 
man you know. I must admit parenthetically that there 
are some politicians whose methods I do not at all be- 
lieve in, but they are jolly good fellows, and if they only 
would not talk the wrong kind of politics with me I 
would love to be with them. And so it is all along the 
line in serious matters and things less serious. "We are 
all of the same clay and spirit and we can get together 
if we desire to get together. Therefore my counsel to 
you is this : 

"Let us show ourselves Americans by showing that 
we do not want to go off in separate camps or groups 
by ourselves, but that we want to co-operate with all 
other classes and all other groups in a common enter- 
prise which is to release the spirits of the world from 
bondage. 

"I would be willing to set that up as the final test 
of an American. That is the meaning of democracy. 
I have been very much distressed, my fellow citizens, by 
some of the things that have happened recently. The 
mob spirit is displaying itself here and there in this 
country. I have sympathy with what some men are 
saying, but I have no sympathy with the men that take 
their punishment into their own hands, and I want 
to say to every man who does join such a mob that I 
do not recognize him as worthy of the free institutions 
of the United States. 

Would Not Destroy the Law 

"There are some organizations in this country whose 
object is anarchy and the destruction of law, but I 



GEEAT SPEECHES 337 

would not meet their efforts by making myself a part- 
ner in destroying the law. I despise and hate their pur- 
poses as much as any man, but I respect the ancient 
processes of justice, and I would be too proud not to see 
them done justice, however wrong they are. And so 
I want to utter my earnest protest against any manifes- 
tation of the spirit of lawlessness anywhere or in any 
cause. 

''Why, gentlemen, look what it means: We claim to 
be the greatest democratic people in the world, and de- 
mocracy means, first of all, that we can govern our- 
selves. If our men have not self-control then they are 
not capable of that great thing which we call demo- 
cratic government. A man who takes the law into his 
hands is not the right man to co-operate in any form 
or development of law and institution. And some of 
the processes by which the struggle between capital and 
labor is carried on are processes that come very near 
to taking the law into your own hands. 

" I do not mean for a moment to compare them with 
what I have just been speaking of, but I want you to 
see that they are mere gradations of the manifestations 
of the unwillingness to co-operate, and the fundamental 
lesson of the whole situation is that we must not only 
take common counsel, but that we must yield to and 
obey common counsel. Not all of the instrumentalities 
for this are at hand. I am hopeful that in the very near 
future new instrumentalities may be organized by which 
we can see to it that various things which are now go- 
ing on shall not go on. 

Speaks for Trade Co-Operation 

"There are various processes of the dilution of labor 
and the unnecessary substitution of labor and bidding 



338 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

in distant markets and unfairly upsetting the whole 
competition of labor, which ought not to go on — I mean 
now on the part of employers — and we must inter- 
ject into this some instrumentality of co-operation by 
which the fair thing will be done all around. I am 
hopeful that some such instrumentalities may be de- 
mised, but whether they are or not, we must use those 
that we have and upon every occasion where it is nec- 
essary have such an instrumentality originated. 

"And so, my fellow citizens, the reason that I came 
away from Washington is that I sometimes get lonely 
down there. There are so many people in Washington 
who know things that are not so, and there are so few 
people in Washington who know anything about what 
the people of the United States are thinking about, I 
have to come away to get reminded of the rest of the 
country ; I have to come away and talk to men who are 
up against the real thing and say to them, 'I am with 
you if you are with me.' And the only test of being 
with me is not to think about me personally at all, but 
merely to think of me as the expression for the time 
being of the power and dignity and hope of the United 
States." 



GREAT SPEECHES 339 

PRESIDENT WILSON'S ADDRESS TO 

CONGRESS PROCLAIMING THE 

WAR AIMS OF THE UNITED 

STATES JANUARY 8, 1918 

"Gentlemen of the congress: Once more, as repeat- 
edly before, the spokesmen of the central empires hare 
indicated their desire to discuss the objects of the war 
and the possible basis of a general peace. Parleys have 
been in progress at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and 
representatives of the central powers, to which the at- 
tention of all the belligerents has been invited for the 
purpose of ascertaining whether it may be possible to 
extend these parleys into a general conference with 
regard to terms of peace and settlement. The Russian 
representatives presented not only a perfectly definite 
statement of the principles upon which they would be 
willing to conclude peace, but also an equally definite 
program of the concrete application of these principles. 

Teutons Plan to Keep Land 

"The representatives of the central powers, on their 
part, presented an outline of settlement which if 
much less definite, seemed susceptible of liberal inter- 
pretation until their specific program of practical terms 
was added. That program proposed no concessions at 
all either to sovereignty of Russia or to the preferences 
of the population with whose fortunes it dealt, but 
meant, in a word, that the central empires were to keep 
every foot of territory their armed forces had occu- 
pied — every province, every city, every point of vantage 
— as a permanent addition to their territories and their 
power. 



340 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

"It is a reasonable conjecture that the general prin- 
ciples of settlement, which they at first suggested orig- 
inated with the more liberal statesmen of Germany and 
Austria, the men who have begun to feel the force of 
their own peoples' thought and purpose, while the con- 
crete terms of actual settlement came from the military 
leaders, who have no thought but to keep what they 
have got. 

Calls Russian Envoys Sincere 

"The negotiations have been broken off. The Rus- 
sian representatives were sincere and in earnest. They 
cannot entertain such proposals of conquest and dom- 
ination. 

"The whole incident is full of significance. It is also 
full of perplexity. With whom are the Russian repre- 
sentatives dealing? For whom are the representatives 
of the central empires speaking ? Are they speaking for 
the majorities of their respective parliaments or for the 
minority parties — that military and imperialistic 
minority which has so far dominated their whole policy 
and controlled the affairs of Turkey and of the Balkan 
states, which have felt obliged to become their asso- 
ciates in this war ? 

"The Russian representatives have insisted, very 
justly, very wisely, and in the true spirit of democracy 
that the conferences they have been holding with the 
Teutonic and Turkish statesmen should be held within 
open, not closed, doors, and all the world has been 
audience as was desired. 

"To whom have we been listening, then? To those 
who speak the spirit and intention of the resolutions of 
the German reichstag of the 9th of July last, the spirit 
and intention of the liberal leaders and parties of Ger- 



GREAT SPEECHES 341 

many, or to those who resist and defy that spirit and 
intention and insist upon conquest and subjugation? 
Or are we listening in fact to both, unreconciled and in 
open and hopeless contradiction? These are very seri- 
ous and pregnant questions. Upon the answer to them 
depends the peace of the world. 

Central Powers Challenge Foes 

"But whatever the results of the parleys at Brest- 
Litovsk, whatever the confusions of counsel and of 
purpose in the utterances of the spokesmen of the cen- 
tral empires, they have again attempted to acquaint 
the world with their objects in the war and have again 
challenged their adversaries to say what their objects 
are, and what sort of settlement they would deem just 
and satisfactory. There is no good reason why that 
challenge should not be responded to, and responded to 
with the utmost candor. "We do not wait for it. Not 
once, but again and again we have laid our whole 
thought and purpose before the world, not in general 
terms only but each time with sufficient definition to 
make it clear what sort of definite terms of settlement 
must necessarily spring out of them. 

Praises Words of Lloyd George 

""Within the last week Mr. Lloyd George has spoken 
with admirable candor and in admirable spirit for the 
people and government of Great Britain. There is no 
confusion of counsel among the adversaries of the cen- 
tral powers, no uncertainty of principle, no vagueness 
of detail. The only secrecy of counsel, the only lack 
of fearless frankness, the only failure to make definite 
statement of the objects of the war lies with Germany 



342 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

and her allies. The issues of life and death hang upon 
these definitions. No statesman who has the least con- 
ception of his responsibility ought for a moment to per- 
mit himself to continue this tragical and appalling out- 
pouring of blood and treasure unless he is sure beyond 
a peradventure that the objects of the vital sacrifice 
are part and parcel of the very life of society and that 
the people for whom he speaks think them right and 
imperative as he does. 

Voice of the Russian People 

"There is, moreover, a voice calling for these defini- 
tions of principle and of purpose which is, it seems to 
me, more thrilling and more compelling than any of 
the many moving voices with which the troubled air 
of the world is filled. It is the voice of the Russian 
people. They are prostrate and all but helpless, it would 
seem, before the grim power of Germany, which has 
hitherto known no relenting and no pity. Their power, 
apparently, is shattered, and yet their soul is not sub- 
servient. 

All Peoples Partners in Program 

"They will not yield either in principle or in action. 
The conception of what is right, of what it is humane 
and honorable for them to accept, has been stated with 
a frankness, a largeness of view, a generosity of spirit 
and a universal human sympathy, which must challenge 
the admiration of every friend of mankind; and they 
have refused to compound their ideals or desert others 
that they themselves may be safe. 

"They call to us to say what it is that we desire, in 
what, if in anything our purpose and our spirit differ 



GREAT SPEECHES 343 

from theirs ; and I believe that the people of the United 
States would wish me to respond with utter simplicity 
and frankness. 

"Whether their present leaders believe it or not, it 
is our heartfelt desire and hope that some way may be 
opened whereby we may be privileged to assist the peo- 
ple of Russia to attain their utmost hope of liberty and 
ordered peace. 

Day of Aggrandizement Gene By 

"It will be our wish and purpose that the processes 
of peace, when they are begun, shall be absolutely open 
and that they shall involve and permit henceforth no 
secret understandings of any kind. The day of conquest 
and aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of 
secret covenants entered into in the interest of particular 
governments and likely at some unlooked for moment to 
upset the peace of the world. 

"It is this happy fact, now clear to the view of every 
public man whose thoughts do not still linger in an age 
that is dead and gone, which makes it possible for 
every nation whose purposes are consistent with justice 
and the peace of the world to avow now or at any other 
time the objects it has in view. 

"We entered this war because violations of right 
had occurred which touched us to the quick and made 
the life of our own people impossible unless they were 
corrected and the world secured once for all against 
their recurrence. What we demand in this war, there- 
fore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the 
world be made fit and safe to live in, and particularly 
that it be made safe for every peace loving nation which, 
like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its 
own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing 



344 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

by the other peoples of the world as against force and 
selfish aggression. 

"All the peoples of the world are in effect partners 
in this interest, and for our own part we see very 
clearly that unless justice be done to others it will not 
be done to us. The program of the world's peace, 
therefore, is our program, and that program, the only 
possible program as we see it, is this : 

"No Private Understanding's" 

"I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, 
after which there shall be no private international un- 
derstandings of any kind, but diplomacy shall proceed 
always frankly and in the public view. 

"II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas 
outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, 
except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by 
international action for the enforcement of interna- 
tional covenants. 

"III. The removal, so far as possible, of all eco- 
nomic barriers and the establishment of an equality of 
trade conditions among all the nations consenting to 
the peace and associating themselves for its maini- 
tenance. 

To Reduce National Armaments 

"IV. Adequate guaranties given and taken that na- 
tional armaments will be reduced to the lowest point 
consistent with domestic safety. 

"V. A free, open minded and absolutely impartial 
adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict 
observance of the principle that in determining all such 
questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations 
concerned must have equal weight with the equitable 



GEEAT SPEECHES 345 

claims of the government whose title is to be deter- 
mined. 

Evacuate All Russian Territory 

"VI. The evacuation of all Russian territory and 
such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as 
will secure the best and freest co-operation of the other 
nations of the world in obtaining for her an unham- 
pered and unembarrassed opportunity for the inde- 
pendent determination of her own political develop- 
ment and national policy and assure her of a sincere 
welcome into the society of free nations under institu- 
tions of her own choosing, and, more than a welcome, 
assistance also of every kind that she may need and 
may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia 
by her sister nations in the months to come will be the 
acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of 
her needs as distinguished from their own interests and 
of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy. 

Belgium Must Be Restored 

"VII. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be 
evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit 
the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all 
other free nations. No other single act will serve as 
this will serve to restore confidence among the nations 
in the laws which they have themselves set and deter- 
mined for the government of their relations with one 
another. Without this healing act the whole structure 
and validity of international law is forever impaired. 

Right the Wrong of Alsace-Lorraine 

"VIII. All French territory should be freed and 
the invaded portions restored and the wrong done to 



346 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lor- 
raine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for 
nearly fifty years, should be righted in order that peace 
may once more be made secure in the interest of all. 

"IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should 
be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nation- 
ality. 

"X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place 
among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and as- 
sured, should be accorded the freest opportunity of au- 
tonomous development. 

"XI. Koumania, Serbia and Montenegro should be 
evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia ac- 
corded free and secure access to the sea, and the rela- 
tions of the several Balkan states to one another de- 
termined by friendly counsel along historically estab- 
lished lines of allegiance and nationality; and interna- 
tional guaranties of the political and economic inde- 
pendence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan 
states should be entered into. 

Autonomy for Races in Turkey 

"XII. The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman 
empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the 
other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule 
should be assured an undoubted security of life and an 
absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous de- 
velopment, and the Dardanelles should be permanently 
opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of 
all nations under international guaranties. 

For an Independent Poland 

"XIII. An independent Polish state should be 
erected which should include the territories inhabited 



GREAT SPEECHES 347 

by indisputably Polish populations, which should be as- 
sured a free and secure access to the sea and whose 
political and economic independence and territorial in- 
tegrity should be guaranteed by international covenant. 
"XIV. A general association of nations must be 
formed under specific covenants for the purpose of af- 
fording mutual guaranties of political independence and 
territorial integrity to great and small states alike. 

"Stand Together to the End" 

"In regard to these essential rectifications of wrong 
and assertions of right we feel ourselves to be intimate 
partners of all the governments and peoples associated 
together against the imperialists. We cannot be sepa- 
rated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand to- 
gether until the end. 

"For such arrangements and covenants we are will- 
ing to fight and to continue to fight until they are 
achieved, but only because we wish the right to prevail 
and desire a just and stable peace, such as can be secured 
only by removing the chief provocations to war, which 
this program does remove. 

To Treat Germany as an Equal 

"We have no jealousy of German greatness and there 
is nothing in this program that impairs it. We grudge 
her no achievement or distinction of learning or of 
pacific enterprise such as have made her record very 
bright and very enviable. We do not wish to injure 
her or to block in any way her legitimate influence or 
power. We do not wish to fight her either with arms or 
with hostile arrangements of trade, if she is willing to 
associate herself with us and the other peace loving 
nations of the world in covenants of justice and law and 



348 GREAT SPEECHES 

fair dealing. We wish her only to accept a place of 
equality among the peoples of the world — the new world 
in which we now live — instead of a place of mastery. 

' ' Neither do we presume to suggest to her any altera- 
tion or modification of her institutions. But it is neces- 
sary, we must frankly say, and necessary as a prelimini- 
nary to any intelligent dealings with her on our part, 
that we should know whom her spokesmen speak for 
when they speak to us, whether for the reichstag ma- 
jority or for the military party and the men whose 
creed is imperial domination. 

"Justice to All Peoples" 

"We have spoken now, surely, in terms too concrete 
to admit of any further doubt or question. An evident 
principle runs through the whole program I have out- 
lined. It is the principle of justice to all peoples and 
nationalities and their right to live on equal terms of 
liberty and safety with one another, whether they be 
strong or weak. 

' ' Unless this principle be made its foundation no part 
of the structure of international justice can stand. The 
people of the United States could act upon no other 
principle, and to the vindication of this principle they 
are ready to devote their lives, their honor and every- 
thing that they possess. 

"The moral climax of this, the culminating and 
final war for human liberty has come, and they are 
ready to put their strength, their own highest purpose, 
their own integrity and devotion to the test." 



PRESIDENT WILSON GIVES AMER- 
ICA'S ANSWER TO GERMANY'S 
DREAM OF CONQUEST 

"Fellow citizens: This is the anniversary of our ac- 
ceptance of Germany's challenge to fight for our right 
to live and be free, and for the sacred rights of free 
men everywhere. The nation is awake. There is no 
need to call to it. We know what the war must cost, 
our utmost sacrifice, the lives of our fittest men, and if 
need be, all that we possess. The loan we are met to 
discuss is one of the least parts of what we are called 
upon to do, though in itself imperative. The people 
of the whole country are alive to the necessity of it, and 
are ready to lead to the utmost, even where it involves 
a sharp skimping and daily sacrifice to lend out of 
meager earnings. They will look with reprobation and 
contempt upon who can and will not upon those who, 
demand a higher rate of interest upon those who think 
of it as a mere commercial transaction. I have not 
come therefore, to urge the loan. I have come only to 
give you, if I can, a more vivid conception of what it is 
for. 

Reasons for the War. 

"The reasons for this great war, the reason why it 
had to come, the need to fight it through, and the 
issues that hang upon its outcome, are more clearly dis- 
closed now than ever before. It is easy to see just what 
this particular loan means because the cause we are 
fighting for stands more sharply revealed than at any 
previous crisis of the momentous struggle. The man 
who knows least can now see plainly how the cause of 
justice stands and what the imperishable thing he is 
asked to invest in is. Men of America may be more 

349 



350 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

sure than they ever were before that the cause is their 
own and that, if it should be lost, their own great na- 
tion's place and mission in the world would be lost 
with it. 

Purposes of Germany. 

"I call to you to witness, my fellow countrymen, that 
at no stage of this terrible business have I judged the 
purposes of Germany intemperately. I should be 
ashamed in the presence of affairs so grave, so fraught 
with the destinies of mankind throughout all the world, 
to speak with truculence, to use the weak language of 
hatred or vindictive purpose. "We must judge as we 
would be judged. I have sought to learn the objects 
Germany has in this war from the mouths of her own 
spokesmen, and to deal as frankly with them as I wished 
them to deal with me. I have laid bare our own ideals, 
our own purposes without reserve or doubtful phrase 
and have asked them to say as plainly what it is that 
they seek. 

"We have ourselves proposed no injustice, no ag- 
gression. We are ready, whenever the final reckoning 
is made, to be just to the German people, deal fairly 
with the German power, as with all others. There can 
be no difference between peoples in the final judgment, 
if it is indeed to be a righteous judgment. To propose 
anything but justice, even handed and dispassionate 
justice, to Germany at any time, whatever the outcome 
of the war, would be to renounce and dishonor our own 
cause. For we ask nothing that we are not willing to 
accord. 

Germany's Answer. 

"It has been with this thought that T have sought to 
learn from those who spoke for Germany whether it was 



GREAT SPEECHES 351 

justice or dominion and the execution of their own will 
upon the other nations of the world that the German 
leaders were seeking. They have answered, in unmis- 
takable terms. They have avowed that it was not jus- 
tice but dominion and the unhindered execution of then- 
own will. The avowal has not come from Germany's 
statesmen. It has come from her military leaders, who 
are her real rulers. Her statesmen have said that they 
wished peace and were ready to discuss its terms when- 
ever their opponents were willing to sit down at the 
conference table with them. Her present chancellor has 
said-m indefinite and uncertain terms, indeed, and in 
phrases that often seem to deny their own meaning but 
with as much plainness as thought prudent-that he 
believed that peace should be based upon the principles 
which we had declared would be our own in the final 
settlement. 

"At Brest Litvosk her civilian delegates spoke in simi- 
lar terms; professed their desire to conclude a fair 
peace, and accord to the peoples with whose fortunes 
they were dealing the right to choose their own alle- 
giances. But action accompanied and followed the 
profession. Their military masters, the men who act 
for Germany and exhibit her purpose in execution, pro- 
claimed a very different conclusion. We can not mis- 
take what they have done-in Russia, in Finland, in 
the Ukraine, m Roumania. The real test of their us- 
tice and fair play has come. From this we may judge 
he rest They are enjoying in Russia a cheap triumph 
in which no brave or gallant nation can long take pride 
A great people, helpless by their own act, lies for the 
time at their mercy. Their fair professions are for- 
gotten. They nowhere set up justice, but everywhere 
impose their power and exploit everything for their 



352 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

own use and aggrandizement, and the peoples of con- 
quered provinces are invited to be free under their do- 
minion. 

The German Aim. 

"Are we not justified in believing that they would 
do the same things at their western front if they were 
not there face to face with armies whom even their 
countless divisions can not overcome? If when they 
have felt their check to be final, they should propose 
favorable and equitable terms with regard to Belgium 
and France and Italy, could they blame us if we con- 
cluded that they did so only to assure themselves of a 
free hand in Russia and the east? 

' ' Their purpose is undoubtedly to make all the Slavic 
peoples, all the free and ambitious nations of the Baltic 
peninsula, all the lands that Turkey has dominated and 
misruled, subject to their will and ambition and build 
upon that dominion an empire of force upon which 
they fancy that they can then erect an empire of gain 
and commercial supremacy— an empire as hostile to the 
Americas as to Europe which it will overawe — an empire 
which will ultimately master Persia, India and the 
peoples of the far east. In such a program our ideals, 
the ideals of justice and humanity and liberty, the prin- 
ciple of the free self-determination of nations upon 
which all the modern world insists, can play no part. 

"They are rejected for the ideals of power, for the 
principle that the strong must rule the weak, that trade 
must follow the flag, whether those to whom it is taken 
welcome it or not, that the peoples of the world are 
to be made subject to the patronage and overlordship 
of those who have the power to enforce it. 



GEEAT SPEECHES 353 

What German Action Means. 

' ' That program once carried out, America and all who 
care or dare to stand with her must arm and prepare 
themselves to contest the mastery of the world, a mas- 
tery in which the rights of common men, the rights of 
women and all who are weak, must for the time being 
be trodden underfoot and disregarded and the old, age- 
long struggle for freedom and right begin again at its 
beginning. Everything that America has lived for and 
loved and grown great to vindicate and bring to a glor- 
ious realization will have fallen in utter ruin and the 
gates of mercy once more piteously shut upon mankind. 

"The thing is preposterous and impossible; and yet 
is it not what the whole course and action of the German 
armies has meant wherever they have moved? I do not 
wish, even in this moment of utter disillusionment, to 
judge harshly or unrighteously. I judge only what the 
German arms have accomplished with unpitying thor- 
oughness throughout every fair region they have 
touched. 

Eeady to Discuss Fair Peace. 

' ' What, then, are we to do ? For myself, I am ready, 
ready still, ready even now, to discuss a fair and just 
and honest peace at any time that it is sincerely pro- 
posed — a peace in which the strong and the weak shall 
fare alike. But the answer, when I proposed such a 
peace, came from the German commanders in Russia 
and I can not mistake the meaning of the answer. 

"I accept the challenge. I know that you accept it. 
All the world shall know that you accept it. It shall 
appear in the utter sacrifice and self-forgetfulness with 
which we shall give all that we love and all that we have 
to redeem the world and make it fit for free men like 



354 GREAT SPEECHES 

ourselves to live in. This now is the meaning of all 
that we do. Let everything that we say, my fellow 
countrymen, everything that we henceforth plan and 
accomplish, ring true to this response till the majesty 
and might of our concerted power shall fill the thought 
and utterly defeat the force of those who flout and 
misprise what we honor and hold dear. 

But One Response. 

"Germany has once more said that force, and force 
alone, shall decide whether justice and peace shall reign 
in the affairs of men, whether right as America con- 
ceives it shall determine the destinies of mankind. 
There is therefore but one response possible from us: 
Force, force to the utmost, force without stint or limit, 
the righteous and triumphant force which shall make 
right the law of the world, and cast every selfish do- 
minion down in the dust." 



ANNUAL ADDRESS TO CONGRESS 
DECEMBER 2, 1918 

The President Announces His Intention to 
Go to Paris 

Gentlemen of the Congress : 

The year that has elapsed since I last stood before 
you to fulfill my constitutional duty to give to the 
Congress from time to time information on the state 
of the Union has been so crowded with great events, 
great processes, and great results that I cannot hope 
to give you an adequate picture of its transactions or 
of the far-reaching changes which have been wrought 
in the life of our nation and of the world. You have 
yourselves witnessed these things, as I have. It is too 
soon to assess them; and we who stand in the midst 
of them and are part of them are less qualified than 
men of another generation will be to say what they 
mean, or even what they have been. But some great 
outstanding facts are unmistakable and constitute, in 
a sense, part of the public business with which it is our 
duty to deal. To state them is to set the stage for the 
legislative and executive action which must grow out 
of them and which we have yet to shape and determine. 

A year ago we had sent 145,918 men overseas. Since 
then we have sent 1,950,513, an average of 162,542 each 
month, the number in fact rising, in May last to 245,- 
951, in June to 278,760, in July to 307,182, and continu- 
ing to reach similar figures in August and September, — 
in August 289,570 and in September 257,438. No such 

355 



356 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

movement of troops ever took place before, across three 
thousand miles of sea, followed by adequate equipment 
and supplies, and carried safely through extraordinary 
dangers of attack, — dangers which were alike strange 
and infinitely difficult to guard against. In all this 
movement only seven hundred and fifty-eight men were 
lost by enemy attack, — six hundred and thirty of whom 
were upon a single English transport which was sunk 
near the Orkney Islands. 

I need not tell you what lay back of this great move- 
ment of men and material. It is not invidious to say 
that back of it lay a supporting organization of the 
industries of the country and of all its productive ac- 
tivities more complete, more thorough in method and 
effective in result, more spirited and unanimous in pur- 
pose and effort than any other great belligerent had 
been able to effect. We profited greatly by the expe- 
rience of the nations which had already been engaged 
for nearly three years in the exigent and exacting busi- 
ness, their every resource and every executive profi- 
ciency taxed to the utmost. We were their pupils. But 
we learned quickly and acted with a promptness and 
a readiness of co-operation that justify our great pride 
that we were able to serve the world with unparalleled 
energy and quick accomplishment. 

But it is not the physical scale and executive effi- 
ciency of preparation, supply, equipment and despatch 
that I would dwell upon, but the mettle and quality of 
the officers and men we sent over and of the sailors who 
kept the seas, and the spirit of the nation that stood 
behind them. No soldiers or sailors ever proved them- 
selves more quickly ready for the test of battle or ac- 
quitted themselves with more splendid courage and 
achievement when put to the test. Those of us who 



GREAT SPEECHES 357 

played some part in directing the great processes by 
which the war was pushed irresistibly forward to the 
final triumph may now forget all that and delight our 
thoughts with the story of what our men did. Their 
officers understood the grim and exacting task they 
had undertaken and performed it with an audacity, 
efficiency, and unhesitating courage that touch the 
story of convoy and battle with imperishable distinction 
at every turn, whether the enterprise were great or 
small, — from their great chiefs, Pershing and Sims, 
down to the youngest lieutenant; and their men were 
worthy of them, — such men as hardly need to be com- 
manded, and go to their terrible adventure blithely and 
with the quick intelligence of those who know just 
what it is they would accomplish. I am proud to be 
the fellow-countryman of men of such stuff and valour. 
Those of us who stayed at home did our duty ; the war 
could not have been won or the gallant men who fought 
it given their opportunity to win it otherwise ; but for 
many a long day we shall think ourselves "accurs'd 
we were not there, and hold our manhoods cheap while 
any speaks that fought" with these at St. Mihiel or 
Thierry. The memory of those days of triumphant bat- 
tle will go with these fortunate men to their graves; 
and each will have his favourite memory. "Old men 
forget ; yet all shall be forgot, but he 11 remember with 
advantages what feats he did that day ! ' ' 

What we all thank God for with deepest gratitude is 
that our men went in force into the line of battle just 
at the critical moment when the whole fate of the world 
seemed to hang in the balance and threw their fresh 
strength into the ranks of freedom in time to turn the 
whole tide and sweep of the fateful struggle,— turn it 
once for all, so that thenceforth it was back, back, back 



358 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

for their enemies, always back, never again forward! 
After that it was only a scant four months before the 
commanders of the Central Empires knew themselves 
beaten ; and now their very empires are in liquidation ! 

And throughout it all how fine the spirit of the nation 
was: what unity of purpose, what untiring zeal! What 
elevation of purpose ran through all its splendid display 
of strength, its untiring accomplishment. I have said 
that those of us who stayed at home to do the work 
of organization and supply will always wish that we 
had been with the men whom we sustained by our 
labour; but we can never be ashamed. It has been an 
inspiring thing to be here in the midst of fine men who 
had turned aside from every private interest of their 
own and devoted the whole of their trained capacity 
to the tasks that supplied the sinews of the whole great 
undertaking! The patriotism, the unselfishness, the 
thoroughgoing devotion and distinguished capacity that 
marked their toilsome labours, day after day, month 
after month, have made them fit mates and comrades 
of the men in the trenches and on the sea. And not 
the men here in Washington only. They have but 
directed the vast achievement. Throughout innumer- 
able factories, upon innumerable farms, in the depths 
of coal mines and iron mines and copper mines, wher- 
ever the stuffs of industry were to be obtained and pre- 
pared, in the shipyards, on the railways, at the docks, 
on the sea, in every labor that was needed to sustain 
the battle lines, men have vied with each other to do 
their part and do it well. They can look any man-at- 
arms in the face, and say, ' ' We also strove to win and 
gave the best that was in us to make our fleets and 
armies sure of their triumph!" 

And what shall we say of the women, — of their in- 



GREAT SPEECHES 359 

stant intelligence, quickening every task that they 
touched; their capacity for organization and co-opera- 
tion, which gave their action discipline and enhanced 
the effectiveness of everything they attempted; their 
aptitude at tasks to which they had never before set 
their hands ; their utter self-sacrifice alike in what they 
did and in what they gave? Their contribution to the 
great result is beyond appraisal. They have added a 
new lustre to the annals of American womanhood. 

The least tribute we can pay them is to make them 
the equals of men in political rights as they have proved 
themselves their equals in every field of practical work 
they have entered, whether for themselves or for their 
country. These great days of completed achievement 
would be sadly marred were we to omit that act of jus- 
tice. Besides the immense practical services they have 
rendered, the women of the country have been the 
moving spirits in the systematic economies by which 
our people have voluntarily assisted to supply the suf- 
fering peoples of the world and the armies upon every 
front with food and everything else that we had that 
might serve the common cause. The details of such a 
story can never be fully written, but we carry them at 
our hearts and thank God that we can say that we are 
the kinsmen of such. 

And now we are sure of the great triumph for which 
every sacrifice was made. It has come, come in its 
completeness, and with the pride and inspiration of 
these days of achievement quick within us we turn to 
the tasks of peace again, — a peace secure against the 
violence of irresponsible monarchs and ambitious mili- 
tary coteries and made ready for a new order, for new 
foundations of justice and fair dealing. 

We are about to give order and organization to this 



360 PKESIDENT WILSON'S 

peace not only for ourselves but for the other peoples 
of the world as well, so far as they will suffer us to 
serve them. It is international justice that we seek, 
not domestic safety merely. Our thoughts have dwelt 
of late upon Europe, upon Asia, upon the near and the 
far East, very little upon the acts of peace and accom- 
modation that wait to be performed at our own doors. 
While we are adjusting our relations with the rest of 
the world is it not of capital importance that we should 
clear away all grounds of misunderstanding with our 
immediate neighbors and give proof of the friendship 
we really feel? I hope that the members of the Senate 
will permit me to speak once more of the unratified 
treaty of friendship and adjustment with the Republic 
of Colombia. I very earnestly urge upon them an early 
and favorable action upon that vital matter. I believe 
that they will feel, with me, that the stage of affairs 
is now set for such action as will be not only just but 
generous and in the spirit of the new age upon which 
we have so happily entered. 

So far as our domestic affairs are concerned the prob- 
lem of our return to peace is a problem of economic 
and industrial readjustment. That problem is less 
serious for us than it may turn out to be for the nations 
which have suffered the disarrangements and the losses 
of war longer than we. Our people, moreover, do not 
wait to be coached and led. They know their own busi- 
ness, are quick and resourceful at every readjustment, 
definite in purpose, and self-reliant in action. Any 
leading strings we might seek to put them in would 
speedily become hopelessly tangled because they would 
pay no attention to them and go their own way. All 
that we can do as their legislative and executive ser- 
vants is to mediate the process of change here, there, 



GBEAT SPEECHES 361 

and elsewhere as we may. I have heard much counsel 
as to the plans that should be formed and personally 
conducted to a happy consummation, but from no quar- 
ter have I seen any general scheme of "reconstruction" 
emerge which I thought it likely we could force our 
spirited business men and self-reliant laborers to accept 
with due pliancy and obedience. 

While the war lasted we set up many agencies by 
which to direct the industries of the country in the ser- 
vices it was necessary for them to render, by which to 
make sure of an abundant supply of the materials 
needed, by which to check undertakings that could for 
the time be dispensed with and stimulate those that 
were most serviceable in war, by which to gain for the 
purchasing departments of the Government a certain 
control over the prices of essential articles and mate- 
rials, by which to restrain trade with alien enemies, 
make the most of the available shipping, and systema- 
tize financial transactions, both public and private, so 
that there would be no unnecessary conflict or confu- 
sion, — by which, in short, to put every material energy 
of the country in harness to draw the common load and 
make of us one team in the accomplishment of a great 
task. But the moment we knew the armistice to have 
been signed we took the harness off. Eaw materials 
upon which the Government had kept its hand for fear 
there should not be enough for the industries that sup- 
plied the armies have been released and put into the 
general market again. Great industrial plants whose 
whole output and machinery had been taken over for 
the uses of the Government have been set free to return 
to the uses to which they were put before the war. It 
has not been possible to remove so readily or so quickly 
the control of foodstuffs and of shipping, because the 



362 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

world has still to be fed from our granaries and the 
ships are still needed to send supplies to our men over- 
sea and to bring the men back as fast as the disturbed 
conditions on the other side of the water permit; but 
even there restraints are being relaxed as much as pos- 
sible and more and more as the weeks go by. 

Never before have there been agencies in existence 
in this country which knew so much of the field of sup- 
ply, of labor, and of industry as the War Industries 
Board, the War Trade Board, the Labor Department, 
the Food Administration, and the Fuel Administration 
have known since their labors became thoroughly sys- 
tematized; and they have not been isolated agencies; 
they have been directed by men which represented the 
permanent departments of the Government and so have 
been the centers of unified and co-operative action. It 
has been the policy of the executive, therefore, since 
the armistice was assured (which is in effect a complete 
submission of the enemy) to put the knowledge of these 
bodies at the disposal of the business men of the coun- 
try and to offer their intelligent mediation at every 
point and in every matter where it was desired. It is 
surprising how fast the process of return to a peace 
footing has moved in the three weeks since the fighting 
stopped. It promises to outrun any inquiry that may 
be instituted and any aid that may be offered. It will 
not be easy to direct it any better than it will direct 
itself. The American business man is of quick initiative. 

The ordinary and normal processes of private initia- 
tive will not, however, provide immediate employment 
for all of the men of our returning armies. Those who 
are of trained capacity, those who are skilled workmen, 
those who have acquired familiarity with established 
businesses, those who are ready and willing to go to the 



GREAT SPEECHES 363 

farms, all those whose aptitudes are known or will be 
sought out by employers will find no difficulty, it is 
safe to say, in finding place and employment. But 
there will be others who will be at a loss where to gain 
a livelihood unless pains are taken to guide them and 
put them in the way of work. There will be a large 
floating residuum of labor which should not be left 
wholly to shift for itself. It seems to me important, 
therefore, that the development of public works of 
every sort should be promptly resumed, in order that 
opportunities should be created for unskilled labor in 
particular, and that plans should be made for such de- 
velopments of our unused lands and our natural re- 
sources as we have hitherto lacked stimulation to un- 
dertake. 

I particularly direct your attention to the very prac- 
tical plans which the Secretary of the Interior has 
developed in his annual report and before your com- 
mittees for the reclamation of arid, swamp, and cut- 
over lands which might, if the states were willing and 
able to co-operate, redeem some three hundred million 
acres of land for cultivation. There are said to be 
fifteen or twenty million acres of land in the West, at 
present arid, for whose reclamation water is available, 
if properly conserved. There are about two hundred 
and thirty million acres from which the forests have 
been cut but which have never yet been cleared for the 
plow and which lie waste and desolate. These lie scat- 
tered all over the Union. And there are nearly eighty 
million acres of land that lie under swamps or subject 
to periodical overflow or too wet for anything but 
grazing which it is perfectly feasible to drain and pro- 
tect and redeem. The Congress can at once direct 
thousands of the returning soldiers to the reclamation 



364 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

of the arid lands which it has already undertaken, if 
it will but enlarge the plans and the appropriations 
which it has entrusted to the Department of the In- 
terior. It is possible in dealing with our unused land 
to effect a great rural and agricultural development 
which will afford the best sort of opportunity to men 
who want to help themselves; and the Secretary of the 
Interior has thought the possible methods out in a way 
which is worthy of your most friendly attention. 

I have spoken of the control which must yet for a 
while, perhaps for a long while, be exercised over ship- 
ping because of the priority of service to which our 
forces overseas are entitled and which should also be 
accorded the shipments which are to save recently lib- 
erated peoples from starvation and many devastated 
regions from permanent ruin. May I not say a special 
word about the needs of Belgium and northern France ? 
No sums of money paid by way of indemnity will serve 
of themselves to save them from hopeless disadvantage 
for years to come. Something more must be done than 
merely find the money. If they had money and raw 
materials in abundance tomorrow they could not re- 
sume their place in the industry of the world tomorrow, 
— the very important place they held before the flame of 
war swept across them. Many of their factories are 
razed to the ground. Much of their machinery is de- 
stroyed or has been taken away. Their people are 
scattered and many of their best workmen are dead. 
Their markets will be taken by others, if they are not 
in some special way assisted to rebuild their factories 
and replace their lost instruments of manufacture. 
They should not be left to the vicissitudes of the sharp 
competition for materials and for industrial facilities 
which is now to set in. I hope, therefore, that the 



GREAT SPEECHES 365 

Congress will not be unwilling, if it should become nec- 
essary, to grant to some such agency as the War Trade 
Board the right to establish priorities of export and 
supply for the benefit of these people whom we have 
been so happy to assist in saving from the German 
terror and whom we must not now thoughtlessly leave 
to shift for themselves in a pitiless competitive market. 

For the steadying and facilitation of our own do- 
mestic business readjustments nothing is more impor- 
tant than the immediate determination of the taxes that 
are to be levied for 1918, 1919, and 1920. As much of 
the burden of taxation must be lifted from business as 
sound methods of financing the Government will per- 
mit,, and those who conduct the great essential indus- 
tries of the country must be told as exactly as possible 
what obligations to the Government they will be ex- 
pected to meet in the years immediately ahead of them. 
It will be of serious consequence to the country to 
delay removing all uncertainties in this matter a single 
day longer than the right processes of debate justify. 
It is idle to talk of successful and confident business 
reconstruction before those uncertainties are resolved. 

If the war had continued it would have been neces- 
sary to raise at least eight billion dollars by taxation 
payable in the year 1919 ; but the war has ended and I 
agree with the Secretary of the Treasury that it will 
be safe to reduce the amount to six billions. An imme- 
diate rapid decline in the expenses of the Government 
is not to be looked for. Contracts made for war sup- 
plies will, indeed, be rapidly cancelled and liquidated, 
but their immediate liquidation will make heavy drains 
on the Treasury for the months just ahead of us. The 
maintenance of our forces on the other side of the sea 
is still necessary. A considerable proportion of those 



366 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

forces must remain in Europe during the period of 
occupation, and those which are brought home will 
be transported and demobilized at heavy expense for 
months to come. The interest on our war debt must 
of course be paid and provision made for the retirement 
of the obligations of the Government which represent 
it. But these demands will of course fall much below 
what a continuation of military operations would have 
entailed and six billions should suffice to supply a 
sound foundation for the financial operations of the 
year. 

I entirely concur with the Secretary of the Treasury 
in recommending that the two billions needed in addi- 
tion to the four billions provided by existing law be 
obtained from the profits which have accrued and shall 
accrue from war contracts and distinctively war busi- 
ness, but that these taxes be confined to the war profits 
accruing in 1918, or in 1919 from business originating 
in war contracts. I urge your acceptance of his rec- 
ommendation that provision be made now, not subse- 
quently, that the taxes to be paid in 1920 should be 
reduced from six to four billions. Any arrangements 
less definite than these would add elements of doubt 
and confusion to the critical period of industrial read- 
justment through which the country must now imme- 
diately pass, and which no true friend of the nation's 
essential business interests can afford to be responsible 
for creating or prolonging. Clearly determined con- 
ditions, clearly and simply charted, are indispensable 
to the economic revival and rapid industrial develop- 
ment which may confidently be expected if we act 
now and sweep all interrogation points away. 

I take it for granted that the Congress will carry 
out the naval program which was undertaken before 



GREAT SPEECHES 367 

we entered the war. The Secretary of the Navy has 
submitted to your committees for authorization that 
part of the program which covers the building plans 
of the next three years. These plans have been pre- 
pared along the lines and in accordance with the policy 
which the Congress established, not under the excep- 
tional conditions of the war, but with the intention of 
adhering to a definite method of development for the 
navy. I earnestly recommend the uninterrupted pur- 
suit of that policy. It would clearly be unwise for us 
to attempt to adjust our programs to a future world 
policy as yet undetermined. 

The question which causes me the greatest concern 
is the question of the policy to be adopted towards the 
railroads. I frankly turn to you for counsel upon it. 
I have no confident judgment of my own. I do not 
see how any thoughtful man can have who knows 
anything of the complexity of the problem. It is a 
problem which must be studied, studied immediately, 
and studied without bias or prejudice. Nothing can 
be gained by becoming partisans of any particular plan 
of settlement. 

It was necessary that the administration of the rail- 
ways should be taken over by the Government so long 
as the war lasted. It would have been impossible other- 
wise to establish and carry through under a single 
direction the necessary priorities of shipment. It would 
have been impossible otherwise to combine maximum 
production at the factories and mines and farms with 
the maximum possible car supply to take the products 
to the ports and markets; impossible to route troop 
shipments and freight shipments without regard to 
the advantage or disadvantage of the roads employed ; 
impossible to subordinate, when necessary, all ques- 



368 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

tions of convenience to the public necessity; impos- 
sible to give the necessary financial support to the 
roads from the public treasury. But all these necessi- 
ties have now been served, and the question is, what 
is best for the railroads and for the public in the future. 

Exceptional circumstances and exceptional methods 
of administration were not needed to convince us that 
the railroads were not equal to the immense tasks of 
transportation imposed upon them by the rapid and 
continuous development of the industries of the coun- 
try. We knew that already. And we knew that they 
were unequal to it partly because their full co-operation 
was rendered impossible by law and their competition 
made obligatory, so that it has been impossible to assign 
to them severally the traffic which could best be carried 
by their respective lines in the interest of expedition 
and national economy. 

We may hope, I believe, for the formal conclusion 
of the war by treaty by the time Spring has come. The 
twenty-one months to which the present control of the 
railways is limited after formal proclamation of peace 
shall have been made will run at the farthest, I take 
it for granted, only to the January of 1921. The full 
equipment of the railways which the federal adminis- 
tration had planned could not be completed within any 
such period. The present law does not permit the use 
of the revenues of the several roads for the execution 
of such plans except by formal contract with their 
directors, some of whom will consent while some will 
not, and therefore does not afford sufficient authority 
to undertake improvements upon the scale upon which 
it would be necessary to undertake them. Every ap- 
proach to this difficult subject-matter of decision brings 
us face to face, therefore, with this unanswered ques- 



GREAT SPEECHES 369 

tion: What is it right that we should do with the 
railroads, in the interest of the public and in fairness 
to their owners? 

Let me say at once that I have no answer ready. The 
only thing that is perfectly clear to me is that it is not 
fair either to the public or to the owners of the rail- 
roads to leave the question unanswered and that it will 
presently become my duty to relinquish control of the 
roads, even before the expiration of the statutory 
period, unless there should appear some clear prospect 
in the meantime of a legislative solution. Their release 
would at least produce one element of a solution, 
namely, certainty and a quick stimulation of private 
initiative. 

I believe that it will be serviceable for me to set forth 
as explicitly as possible the alternative courses that lie 
open to our choice. We can simply release the roads 
and go back to the old conditions of private manage- 
ment, unrestricted competition, and multiform regula- 
tion by both state and federal authorities; or we can 
go to the opposite extreme and establish complete gov- 
ernment control, accompanied, if necessary, by actual 
government ownership ; or we can adopt an interme- 
diate course of modified private control, under a more 
unified and affirmative public regulation and under 
such alterations of the law as will permit wasteful com- 
petition to be avoided and a considerable degree of 
unification of administration to be effected, as, for ex- 
ample, by regional corporations under which the rail- 
ways of definable areas would be in effect combined in 
single systems. 

The one conclusion that I am ready to state with 
confidence is that it would be a disservice alike to the 
country and to the owners of the railroads to return 



370 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

to the old conditions unmodified. Those are conditions 
of restraint without development. There is nothing 
affirmative or helpful about them. What the country 
chiefly needs is that all its means of transportation 
should be developed, its railways, its waterways, its 
highways, and its countryside roads. Some new ele- 
ment of policy, therefore, is absolutely necessary, — 
necessary for the service of the public, necessary for 
the release of credit to those who are administering 
the railways, necessary for the protection of their se- 
curity holders. The old policy may be changed much 
or little, but surely it cannot wisely be left as it was. 
I hope that the Congress will have a complete and im- 
partial study of the whole problem instituted at once 
and prosecuted as rapidly as possible. I stand ready 
and anxious to release the roads from the present con- 
trol and I must do so at a very early date if by waiting 
until the statutory limit of time is reached I shall be 
merely prolonging the period of doubt and uncertainty 
which is hurtful to every interest concerned. 

I welcome this occasion to announce to the Congress 
my purpose to join in Paris the representatives of the 
governments with which we have been associated in 
the war against the Central Empires for the purpose of 
discussing with them the main features of the treaty 
of peace. I realize the great inconveniences that will 
attend my leaving the country, particularly at this 
time, but the conclusion that it was my paramount duty 
to go has been forced upon me by considerations which 
I hope will seem as conclusive to you as they have 
seemed to me. 

The allied governments have accepted the bases of 
peace which I outlined to the Congress on the eighth 
of January last, as the Central Empires also have, and 



GREAT SPEECHES 371 

very reasonably desire my personal counsel in their 
interpretation and application, and it is highly desir- 
able that I should give it in order that the sincere de- 
sire of our Government to contribute without selfish 
purpose of any kind to settlements that will be of 
common benefit to all the nations concerned may be 
made fully manifest. The peace settlements which are 
now to be agreed upon are of transcendent importance 
both to us and to the rest of the world, and I know of 
no business or interest which should take precedence 
of them. The gallant men of our armed forces on land 
and sea have consciously fought for the ideals which 
they knew to be the ideals of their country; I have 
sought to express those ideals; they have accepted my 
statements of them as the substance of their own 
thought and purpose, as the associated governments 
have accepted them; I owe it to them to see to it, so 
far as in me lies, that no false or mistaken interpre- 
tation is put upon them, and no possible effort omitted 
to realize them. It is now my duty to play my full 
part in making good what they offered their life's 
blood to obtain. I can think of no call to service which 
could transcend this. 

I shall be in close touch with you and with affairs on 
this side the water, and you will know all that I do. 
At my request, the French and English governments 
have absolutely removed the censorship of cable news 
which until within a fortnight they had maintained 
and there is now no censorship whatever exercised at 
this end except upon attempted trade communications 
with enemy countries. It has been necessary to keep 
an open wire constantly available between Paris and 
the Department of State and another between France 
and the Department of War. In order that this might 



372 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

be done with the least possible interference with the 
other uses of the cables, I have temporarily taken over 
the control of both cables in order that they may be 
used as a single system. I did so at the advice of the 
most experienced cable officials, and I hope that the 
results will justify my hope that the news of the next 
few months may pass with the utmost freedom and 
with the least possible delay from each side of the sea 
to the other. 

May I not hope, Gentlemen of the Congress, that in 
the delicate tasks I shall have to perform on the other 
side of the sea, in my efforts truly and faithfully to 
interpret the principles and purposes of the country 
we love, I may have the encouragement and the added 
strength of your united support 1 I realize the magni- 
tude and difficulty of the duty I am undertaking ; I am 
poignantly aware of its grave responsibilities. I am 
the servant of the nation. I can have no private thought 
or purpose of my own in performing such an errand. 
I go to give the best that is in me to the common set- 
tlements which I must now assist in arriving at in con- 
ference with the other working heads of the associated 
governments. I shall count upon your friendly coun- 
tenance and encouragement. I shall not be inaccessible. 
The cables and the wireless will render me available 
for any counsel or service you may desire of me, and 
I shall be happy in the thought that I am constantly in 
touch with the weighty matters of domestic policy with 
which we shall have to deal. I shall make my absence 
as brief as possible and shall hope to return with the 
happy assurance that it has been possible to translate 
into action the great ideals for which America has 
striven. 



GEEAT SPEECHES 373 

PRESIDENT WILSON'S MOUNT VER- 
NON FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH 

Including the Four Points Supplementing the 
Fourteen Principles 

Gentlemen of the Diplomatic Corps and My Fellow 
Citizens : 

I am happy to draw apart with you to this quiet 
place of old counsel in order to speak a little of the 
meaning of this day of our nation's independence. The 
place seems very still and remote. It is as serene and 
untouched by the hurry of the world as it was in those 
great days long ago when General Washington was 
here and held leisurely conference with the men who 
were to be associated with him in the creation of a 
nation. From these gentle slopes they looked out upon 
the world and saw it whole, saw it with the light of the 
future upon it, saw it with modern eyes that turned 
away from a past which men of liberated spirits could 
no longer endure. It is for that reason that we cannot 
feel, even here, in the immediate presence of this sacred 
tomb, that this is a place of death. It was a place of 
achievement. A great promise that was meant for all 
mankind was here given plan and reality. The asso- 
ciations by which we are here surrounded are the in- 
spiriting associations of that noble death which is only 
a glorious consummation. From this green hillside we 
also ought to be able to see with comprehending eyes 
the world that lies about us and should conceive anew 
the purposes that must set men free. 

It is significant, — significant of their own character 
and purpose and of the influences they were setting 
afoot, — that Washington and his associates, like the 



374 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

barons at Runnymede, spoke and acted, not for a class, 
but for a people. It has been left for us to see to it 
that it shall be understood that they spoke and acted, 
not for a single people only, but for all mankind. They 
were thinking, not of themselves and of the material 
interests which centered in the little groups of land- 
holders and merchants and men of affairs with whom 
they were accustomed to act, in Virginia and the colo- 
nies to the north and south of her, but of a people 
which wished to be done with classes and special in- 
terests and the authority of men whom they had not 
themselves chosen to rule over them. They entertained 
no private purpose, desired no peculiar privilege. They 
were consciously planning that men of every class 
should be free and America a place to which men out 
of every nation might resort who wished to share with 
them the rights and privileges of free men. And we 
take our cue from them, — do we not ? "We intend what 
they intended. We here in America believe our partici- 
pation in this present war to be only the fruitage of 
what they planted. Our case differs from theirs only 
in this, that it is our inestimable privilege to concert 
with men out of every nation what shall make not only 
the liberties of America secure but the liberties of every 
other people as well. We are happy in the thought that 
we are permitted to do what they would have done had 
they been in our place. There must now be settled 
once for all what was settled for America in the great 
age upon whose inspiration we draw today. This is 
surely a fitting place from which calmly to look out 
upon our task, that we may fortify our spirits for its 
accomplishment. And this is the appropriate place 
from which to avow, alike to the friends who look on 
and to the friends with whom we have the happiness 



GREAT SPEECHES 375 

to be associated in action, the faith and purpose with 
which we act. 

This, then, is our conception of the great struggle 
in which we are engaged. The plot is written plain 
upon every scene and every act of the supreme tragedy. 
On the one hand stand the peoples of the world, — not 
only the peoples actually engaged, but many others 
also who suffer under mastery but cannot act ; peoples 
of many races and in every part of the world, — the 
people of stricken Russia still, among the rest, though 
they are for the moment unorganized and helpless. 
Opposed to them, masters of many armies, stand an 
isolated, friendless group of governments who speak 
no common purpose but only selfish ambitions of their 
own by which none can profit but themselves, and 
whose peoples are fuel in their hands; governments 
which fear their people and yet are for the time their 
sovereign lords, making every choice for them and dis- 
posing of their lives and fortunes as they will, as well 
as of the lives and fortunes of every people who fall 
under their power, — governments clothed with the 
strange trappings and the primitive authority of an 
age that is altogether alien and hostile to our own. 
The past and the present are in deadly grapple and the 
peoples of the world are being done to death between 
them. 

There can be but one issue. The settlement must 
be final. There can be no compromise. No halfway 
decision would be tolerable. No halfway decision is 
conceivable. These are the ends for which the asso- 
ciated peoples of the world are fighting and which 
must be conceded them before there can be peace : 

I. The destruction of every arbitrary power any- 
where that can separately, secretly, and of its single 



376 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

choice disturb the peace of the world; or, if it cannot 
be presently destroyed, at the least its reduction to 
virtual impotence. 

II. The settlement of every question, whether of 
territory, or sovereignty, of economic arrangement, or 
of political relationship, upon the basis of the free ac- 
ceptance of that settlement by the people immediately 
concerned, and not upon the basis of the material in- 
terest or advantage of any other nation or people which 
may desire a different settlement for the sake of its 
own exterior influence or mastery. 

III. The consent of all nations to be governed in 
their conduct towards each other by the same princi- 
ples of honor and of respect for the common law of 
civilized society that govern the individual citizens of 
all modern states in their relations with one another; 
to the end that all promises and covenants may be sa- 
credly observed, no private plots or conspiracies 
hatched, no selfish injuries wrought with impunity, and 
a mutual trust established upon the handsome founda- 
tion of a mutual respect for right. 

IV. The establishment of an organization of peace 
which shall make it certain that the combined power of 
free nations will check every invasion of right and 
serve to make peace and justice the more secure by 
affording a definite tribunal of opinion to which all 
must submit and by which every international read- 
justment that cannot be amicably agreed upon by the 
peoples directly concerned shall be sanctioned. 

These great objects can be put into a single sentence. 
"What we seek is the reign of law, based upon the con- 
sent of the governed and sustained by the organized 
opinion of mankind. 

These great ends cannot be achieved by debating and 



GREAT SPEECHES 377 

seeking to reconcile and accommodate what statesmen 
may wish, with their projects for balances of power 
and of national opportunity. They can be realized only 
by the determination of what the thinking peoples of 
the world desire, with their longing hope for justice 
and for social freedom and opportunity. 

I can fancy that the air of this place carries the 
accents of such principles with a peculiar kindness. 
Here were started forces which the great nation against 
which they were primarily directed at first regarded as 
a revolt against its rightful authority but which it has 
long since seen to have been a step in the liberation 
of its own people as well as the people of the United 
States ; and I stand here now to speak, — speak proudly 
and with confident hope, — of the spread of this revolt, 
this liberation, to the great stage of the world itself! 
The blinded rulers of Prussia have roused forces they 
knew little of, — forces which, once roused, can never 
be crushed to earth again ; for they have at their heart 
an inspiration and a purpose which are deathless and 
of the very stuff of triumph ! 



378 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

ARMISTICE TERMS AND THE PRESI- 
DENT'S REMARKS 

Gentlemen of the Congress: 

In these anxious times of rapid and stupendous 
change it will in some degree lighten my sense of re- 
sponsibility to perform in person the duty of commu- 
nicating to you some of the larger circumstances of 
the situation with which it is necessary to deal. 

The German authorities who have, at the invitation 
of the Supreme War Council, been in communication 
with Marshal Foch have accepted and signed the terms 
of armistice which he was authorized and instructed to 
communicate to them. Those terms are as follows : 

1. Cessation of operations by land and in the air 
six hours after the signature of the armistice. 

2. Immediate evacuation of invaded countries — Bel- 
gium, France, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxembourg, so ordered 
as to be completed within fourteen days from the sig- 
nature of the armistice. German troops which have not 
left the above mentioned territories within the period 
fixed will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the 
Allied and United States forces jointly will keep pace 
with evacuation in these areas. All movements of 
evacuation and occupation will be regulated in ac- 
cordance with a note annexed to the stated terms. 

3. Repatriation beginning at once and to be com- 
pleted within fourteen days of all inhabitants of the 
countries above mentioned, including hostages and per- 
sons under trial or convicted. 

4. Surrender in good condition by the German 
armies of the following equipment: Five thousand 
guns (two thousand five hundred heavy, two thousand 
five hundred field), thirty thousand machine guns; 



GREAT SPEECHES 379 

three thousand minenwerfer, two thousand aeroplanes 
(fighters, bombers — firstly D. Seventy-three's and night 
bombing machines). The above to be delivered in 
Simmstu to the Allies and United States troops in ac- 
cordance with the detailed conditions laid down in the 
annexed note. 

5. Evacuation by the German armies of the coun- 
tries on the left bank of the Rhine. These countries on 
the left bank of the Rhine shall be administered by the 
local authorities under the control of the Allied and 
United States armies of occupation. The occupation 
of these territories will be determined by Allied and 
United States garrisons holding the principal crossings 
of the Rhine, Mayence, Coblenz, Cologne, together with 
bridgeheads at these points in thirty kilometer radius 
on the right bank and by garrisons similarly holding 
the strategic points of the regions. A neutral zone 
shall be reserved on the right of the Rhine between the 
stream and a line drawn parallel to it forty kilometers 
to the east from the frontier of Holland to the parallel 
of Gernsheim and as far as practicable a distance of 
thirty kilometers from the east of stream from this 
parallel upon Swiss frontier. Evacuation by the enemy 
of the Rhine lands shall be so ordered as to be com- 
pleted within a further period of eleven days, in all 
nineteen days after the signature of the armistice. All 
movements of evacuation and occupation will be regu- 
lated according to the note annexed. 

6. In all territory evacuated by the enemy there shall 
be no evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm 
shall be done to the persons or property of the inhabi- 
tants. No destruction of any kind to be committed. 
Military establishments of all kinds shall be delivered 
intact as well as military stores of food, munitions, 



380 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

equipment not removed during the periods fixed for 
evacuation. Stores of food of all kinds for the civil 
population, cattle, etc., shall be left in situ. Industrial 
establishments shall not be impaired in any way and 
their personnel shall not be moved. Roads and means 
of communication of every kind, railroad, waterways, 
main roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in 
no manner impaired. 

7. All civil and military personnel at present em- 
ployed on them shall remain. Five thousand locomo- 
tives, fifty thousand wagons and ten thousand motor 
lorries in good working order with all necessary spare 
parts and fittings shall be delivered to the Associated 
Powers within the period fixed for the evacuation of 
Belgium and Luxemburg. The railways of Alsace- 
Lorraine shall be handed over within the same period, 
together with all pre-war personnel and material. 
Further material necessary for the working of railways 
in the country on the left bank of the Rhine shall be 
left in situ. All stores of coal and material for the up- 
keep of permanent ways, signals and repair shops left 
entire in situ and kept in an efficient state by Germany 
during the whole period of armistice. All barges taken 
from the Allies shall be restored to them. A note ap- 
pended regulates the details of these measures. 

8. The German command shall be responsible for re- 
vealing all mines or delay acting fuses disposed on terri- 
tory evacuated by the German troops and shall assist 
in their discovery and destruction. The German com- 
mand shall also reveal all destructive measures that 
may have been taken (such as poisoning or polluting 
of springs, wells, etc.), under penalty of reprisals. 

9. The right of requisition shall be exercised by the 
Allied and the United States armies in all occupied 



GREAT SPEECHES 381 

territory. The up-keep of the troops of occupation in 
the Rhine land (excluding Alsace-Lorraine) shall be 
charged to the German Government. 

10. An immediate repatriation without reciprocity, 
according to detailed conditions which shall be fixed, 
of all Allied and United States prisoners of war. The 
Allied Powers and the United States shall be able to 
dispose of these prisoners as they wish. 

11. Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from 
evacuated territory will be cared for by German per- 
sonnel who will be left on the spot with the medical 
material required. 

12. All German troops at present in any territory 
which before the war belonged to Russia, Roumania 
or Turkey shall withdraw within the frontiers of Ger- 
many as they existed on August 1, 1914. 

13. Evacuation by German troops to begin at once 
and all German instructors, prisoners, and civilian as 
well as military agents, now on the territory of Russia 
(as defined before 1914) to be recalled. 

14. German troops to cease at once all requisitions 
and seizures and any other undertaking with a view to 
obtaining supplies intended for Germany in Roumania 
and Russia (as defined on August 1, 1914). 

15. Abandonment of the treaties of Bucharest and 
Brest-Litovsk and of the supplementary treaties. 

16. The Allies shall have free access to the territories 
evacuated by the Germans on their eastern frontier 
either through Danzig or by the Vistula in order to con- 
vey supplies to the populations of those territories or 
for any other purpose. 

17. Unconditional capitulation of all German forces 
operating in East Africa within one month. 

18. Repatriation, without reciprocity, within a maxi- 



382 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

mum period of one month, in accordance with detailed 
conditions hereafter to be fixed, of all civilians interned 
or deported who may be citizens of other Allied or 
Associated States than those mentioned in clause 3, 
paragraph 19, with the reservation that any future 
claims and demands of the Allies and the United States 
of America remain unaffected. 

19. The following financial conditions are required : 
Reparation for damage done. While such armistice 
lasts no public securities shall be removed by the enemy 
which can serve as a pledge to the Allies for the re- 
covery or repatriation for war losses. Immediate resti- 
tution of the cash deposit, in the National Bank of Bel- 
gium, and in general immediate return of all documents, 
specie, stocks, shares, paper money together with plant 
for the issue thereof, touching public or private inter- 
ests in the invaded countries. Restitution of the Rus- 
sian and Roumanian gold yielded to Germany or taken 
by that power. This gold to be delivered in trust to the 
Allies until the signature of peace. 

20. Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and 
definite information to be given as to the location and 
movements of all German ships. Notification to be 
given to neutrals that freedom of navigation in all terri- 
torial waters is given to the naval and mercantile ma- 
rines of the Allied and Associated Powers, all questions 
of neutrality being waived. 

21. All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of 
war of the Allied and Associated Powers in German 
hands to be returned without reciprocity. 

22. Surrender to the Allies and the United States of 
America of one hundred and sixty German submarines 
(including all submarine cruisers and mine laying sub- 
marines) with their complete armament and equipment 



GEEAT SPEECHES 383 

in ports which will be specified by the Allies and the 
United States of America. All other submarines to be 
paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the 
supervision of the Allied Powers and the United States 
of America. 

23. The following German surface warships which 
shall be designated by the Allies and the United States 
of America shall forthwith be disarmed and thereafter 
interned in neutral ports, or, for the want of them, in 
Allied ports, to be designated by the Allies and the 
United States of America and placed under the surveil- 
lance of the Allies and the United States of America, 
only caretakers being left on board, namely : Six battle 
cruisers, ten battleships, eight light cruisers, including 
two mine layers, fifty destroyers of the most modern 
type. All other surface warships (including river 
craft) are to be concentrated in German naval bases 
to be designated by the Allies and the United States 
of America, and are to be paid off and completely dis- 
armed and placed under the supervision of the Allies 
and the United States of America. All vessels of the 
auxiliary fleet (trawlers, motor vessels, etc.) are to be 
disarmed. 

24. The Allies and the United States of America 
shall have the right to sweep up all mine fields and 
obstructions laid by Germany outside German terri- 
torial waters, and the positions of these are to be 
indicated. 

25. Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to 
be given to the naval and mercantile marines of the 
Allied and Associated Powers. To secure this the 
Allies and the United States of America shall be em- 
powered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, bat- 
teries and defense works of all kinds in all the entrances 



384 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

from the Categat into the Baltic, and to sweep up all 
mines and obstructions within and without German 
territorial waters without any question of neutrality 
being raised, and the positions of all such mines and 
obstructions are to be indicated. 

26. The existing blockade conditions set up by the 
Allies and Associated Powers are to remain unchanged 
and all German merchant ships found at sea are to 
remain liable to capture. 

27. All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and 
immobilized in German bases to be specified by the 
Allies and the United States of America. 

28. In evacuating the Belgian coasts and ports, 
Germany shall abandon all merchant ships, tugs, light- 
ers, cranes and all other harbor materials, all mate- 
rials for inland navigation, all aircraft and all materials 
and stores, all arms and armaments, and all stores and 
apparatus of all kinds. 

29. All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Ger- 
many ; all Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized 
by Germany in the Black Sea are to be handed over to 
the Allies and the United States of America ; all neutral 
merchant vessels seized are to be released ; all warlike 
and other materials of all kinds seized in those ports 
are to be returned and German materials as specified in 
clause twenty-eight are to be abandoned. 

30. All merchant vessels in German hands belonging 
to the Allied and Associated Powers are to be restored 
in ports to be specified by the Allies and the United 
States of America without reciprocity. 

31. No destruction of ships or of materials to be 
permitted before evacuation, surrender or restoration. 

32. The German Government shall formally notify 
the neutral Governments of the world, and particularly 



GEEAT SPEECHES 385 

the Governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and 
Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading 
of their vessels with the Allied and Associated Coun- 
tries, whether by the German Government or by private 
German interests, and whether in return for specific 
concessions such as the export of shipbuilding materials 
or not, are immediately canceled. 

33. No transfers of German merchant shipping of 
any description to any neutral flag are to take place 
after signature of the armistice. 

34. The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, 
with option to extend. During this period, on failure 
of execution of any of the above clauses, the armistice 
may be denounced by one of the contracting parties, 
on forty-eight hours previous notice. 

35. This armistice to be accepted or refused by 
Germany within seventy-two hours of notification. 

The war thus comes to an end; for, having accepted 
these terms of armistice, it will be impossible for the 
German command to renew it. 

It is not now possible to assess the consequences of 
this great consummation. We know only that this 
tragical war, whose consuming flames swept from one 
nation to another until all the world was on fire, is at 
an end and that it was the privilege of our own people 
to enter it at its most critical juncture in such fashion 
and in such force as to contribute in a way of which 
we are all deeply proud to the great result. We know, 
too, that the object of the war is attained; the object 
upon which all free men had set their hearts; and at- 
tained with a sweeping completeness which even now 
we do not realize. Armed imperialism such as the men 
conceived who were but yesterday the masters of Ger- 
many is at an end, its illicit ambitions engulfed in black 



386 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

disaster. Who will now seek to revive it? The arbi- 
trary power of the military caste of Germany which 
once could secretly and of its own single choice dis- 
turb the peace of the world is discredited and de- 
stroyed. And more than that, — much more than that, 
— has been accomplished. The great nations which 
associated themselves to destroy it have now definitely 
united in the common purpose to set up such a peace 
as will satisfy the longing of the whole world for disin- 
terested justice, embodied in settlements which are 
based upon something much better and much more 
lasting than the selfish competitive interests of power- 
ful states. There is no longer conjecture as to the ob- 
jects the victors have in mind. They have a mind in 
the matter, not only, but a heart also. Their avowed 
and concerted purpose is to satisfy and protect the 
weak as well as to accord their just rights to the 
strong. 

The humane temper and intention of the victorious 
governments has already been manifested in a very 
practical way. Their representatives in the Supreme 
War Council at Versailles have by unanimous resolu- 
tion assured the peoples of the Central Empires that 
everything that is possible in the circumstances will 
be done to supply them with food and relieve the dis- 
tressing want that is in so many places threatening 
their very lives ; and steps are to be taken immediately 
to organize these efforts at relief in the same sys- 
tematic manner that they were organized in the case 
of Belgium. By the use of the idle tonnage of the Cen- 
tral Empires it ought presently to be possible to lift 
the fear of utter misery from their oppressed popula- 
tions and set their minds and energies free for the 
great and hazardous tasks of political reconstruction 



GKEAT SPEECHES 387 

which now face them on every hand. Hunger does 
not breed reform; it breeds madness and all the ugly 
distempers that make an ordered life impossible. 

For with the fall of the ancient governments which 
rested like an incubus upon the peoples of the Central 
Empires has come political change not merely, but 
revolution; and revolution which seems as yet to as- 
sume no final and ordered form but to run from one 
fluid change to another, until thoughtful men are forced 
to ask themselves, With what governments, and of what 
sort, are we about to deal in the making of the cove- 
nants of peace? With what authority will they meet 
us, and with what assurance that their authority will 
abide and sustain securely the international arrange- 
ments into which we are about to enter? There is 
here matter for no small anxiety and misgiving. When 
peace is made, upon whose promises and engagements 
besides our own is it to rest ? 

Let us be perfectly frank with ourselves and admit 
that these questions cannot be satisfactorily answered 
now or at once. But the moral is not that there is 
little hope of an early answer that will suffice. It is 
only that we must be patient and helpful and mindful 
above all of the great hope and confidence that lie at 
the heart of what is taking place. Excesses accom- 
plish nothing. Unhappy Russia has furnished abun- 
dant recent proof of that. Disorder immediately de- 
feats itself. If excesses should occur, if disorder should 
for a time raise its head, a sober second thought will 
follow and a day of constructive action, if we help and 
do not hinder. 

The present and all that it holds belongs to the na- 
tions and the peoples who preserve their self-control 
and the orderly processes of their governments; the 



388 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

future to those who prove themselves the true friends 
of mankind. To conquer with arms is to make only a 
temporary conquest; to conquer the world by earning 
its esteem is to make permanent conquest. I am con- 
fident that the nations that have learned the disci- 
pline of freedom and that have settled with self-pos- 
session to its ordered practice are now about to make 
conquest of the world by the sheer power of example 
and of friendly helpfulness. 

The peoples who have but just come out from under 
the yoke of arbitrary government and who are now 
coming at last into their freedom will never find the 
treasures of liberty they are in search of if they look 
for them by the light of the torch. They will find that 
every pathway that is stained with the blood of their 
own brothers leads to the wilderness, not to the seat 
of their hope. They are now face to face with their 
initial test. We must hold the light steady until they 
find themselves. And in the meantime, if it be possible, 
we must establish a peace that will justly define their 
place among the nations, remove all fear of their neigh- 
bors and of their former masters, and enable them to 
live in security and contentment when they have set 
their own affairs in order. I, for one, do not doubt 
their purpose or their capacity. There are some happy 
signs that they know and will choose the way of self- 
control and peaceful accommodation. If they do, we 
shall put our aid at their disposal in every way that 
we can. If they do not, we must await with patience 
and sympathy the awakening and recovery that will 
assuredly come at last. 



GREAT SPEECHES 389 

THE FIVE FUNDAMENTALS FOR 
A LEAGUE OF NATIONS 

My Fellow Citizens: 

I am not here to promote the loan. That will be 
done, — ably and enthusiastically done, — by the hun- 
dreds of thousands of loyal and tireless men and women 
who have undertaken to present it to you and to our 
fellow citizens throughout the country; and I have not 
the least doubt of their complete success'; for I know 
their spirit and the spirit of the country. My confi- 
dence is confirmed, too, by the thoughtful and expe- 
rienced cooperation of the bankers here and every- 
where, who are lending their invaluable aid and guid- 
ance. I have come, rather, to seek an opportunity 
to present to you some thoughts which I trust will 
serve to give you, in perhaps fuller measure than be- 
fore, a vivid sense of the great issues involved, in order 
that you may appreciate and accept with added en- 
thusiasm the grave significance of the duty of support- 
ing the Government by your men and your means to 
the utmost point of sacrifice and self-denial. No man 
or woman who has really taken in what this war means 
can hesitate to give to the very limit of what they 
have ; and it is my mission here tonight to try to make 
it clear once more what the war really means. You will 
need no other stimulation or reminder of your duty. 

At every turn of the war we gain a fresh conscious- 
ness of what we mean to accomplish by it. When our 
hope and expectation are most excited we think more 
definitely than before of the issues that hang upon it 
and of the purposes which must be realized by means 
of it. For it has positive and well defined purposes 



390 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

which we did not determine and which we cannot alter. 
No statesman or assembly created them; no statesmen 
or assembly can alter them. They have arisen out of 
the very nature and circumstances of the war. The 
most that statesmen or assemblies can do is to carry 
them out or be false to them. They were perhaps not 
clear at the outset; but they are clear now. The war 
has lasted more than four years and the whole world 
has been drawn into it. The common will of mankind 
has been substituted for the particular purposes of 
individual states. Individual statesmen may have 
started the conflict, but neither they nor their op- 
ponents can stop it as they please. It has become a 
people's war, and peoples of all sorts and races, of 
every degree of power and variety of fortune, are in- 
volved in its sweeping processes of change and settle- 
ment. We came into it when its character had become 
fully defined and it was plain that no nation could stand 
apart or be indifferent to its outcome. Its challenge 
drove to the heart of everything we cared for and 
lived for. The voice of the war had become clear and 
gripped our hearts. Our brothers from many lands, 
as well as our own murdered dead under the sea, 
were calling to us, and we responded, fiercely and of 
course. 

The air was clear about us. "We saw things in their 
full, convincing proportions as they were ; and we have 
seen them with steady eyes and unchanging compre- 
hension ever since. We accepted the issues of the war 
as facts, not as any group of men either here or else- 
where had defined them, and we can accept no outcome 
which does not squarely meet and settle them. Those 
issues are these : 

Shall the military power of any nation or group of 



GREAT SPEECHES 391 

nations be suffered to determine the fortunes of peoples 
over whom they have no right to rule except the right 
of force ? 

Shall strong nations be free to wrong weak nations 
and make them subject to their purpose and interest? 

Shall peoples be ruled and dominated, even in their 
own internal affairs, by arbitrary and irresponsible 
force or by their own will and choice. 

Shall there be a common standard of right and privi- 
lege for all peoples and nations or shall the strong do 
as they will and the weak suffer without redress? 

Shall the assertion of right be haphazard and by 
casual alliance or shall there be a common concert to 
oblige the observance of common rights? 

No man, no group of men, chose these to be the issues 
of the struggle. They are the issues of it; and they 
must be settled, — by no arrangement or compromise 
or adjustment of interests, but definitely and once 
for all and with a full and unequivocal acceptance of 
the principle that the interest of the weakest is as sa- 
cred as the interest of the strongest. 

This is what we mean when we speak of a permanent 
peace, if we speak sincerely, intelligently, and with a 
real knowledge and comprehension of the matter we 
deal with. 

We are all agreed that there can be no peace obtained 
by any kind of bargain or compromise with the gov- 
ernments of the Central Empires, because we have 
dealt with them already and have seen them deal with 
other governments that were parties to this struggle, 
at Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest. They have convinced 
us that they are without honor and do not intend jus- 
tice. They observe no covenants, accept no principle 
but force and their own interest. We cannot "come 



392 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

to terms" with them. They have made it impossible. 
The German people must by this time be fully aware 
that we cannot accept the word of those who forced 
this war upon us. "We do not think the same thoughts 
or speak the same language of agreement. 

It is of capital importance that we should also be 
explicitly agreed that no peace shall be obtained by 
any kind of compromise or abatement of the princi- 
ples we have avowed as the principles for which we 
are fighting. There should exist no doubt about that. 
I am, therefore, going to take the liberty of speaking 
with the utmost frankness about the practical implica- 
tions that are involved in it. 

If it be in deed and in truth the common object of 
the governments associated against Germany and of 
the nations whom they govern, as I believe it to be, to 
achieve by the coming settlements a secure and lasting 
peace, it will be necessary that all who sit down at 
the peace table shall come ready and willing to pay the 
price, the only price, that will procure it ; and ready 
and willing, also, to create in some virile fashion the 
only instrumentality by which it can be made certain 
that the agreements of the peace will be honored and 
fulfilled. 

That price is impartial justice in every item of the 
settlement, no matter whose interest is crossed; and 
not only impartial justice but also the satisfaction of 
the several peoples whose fortunes are dealt with. That 
indispensable instrumentality is a League of Nations 
formed under covenants that will be efficacious. 
Without such an instrumentality, by which the peace of 
the world can be guaranteed, peace will rest in part 
upon the word of outlaws and only upon that word. 
For Germany will have to redeem her character, not 



GKEAT SPEECHES 393 

by what happens at the peace table but by what 
follows. 

And, as I see it, the constitution of that League of 
Nations and the clear definition of its objects must 
be a part, is in a sense the most essential part, of the 
peace settlement itself. It cannot be formed now. If 
formed now, it would be merely a new alliance con- 
fined to the nations associated against a common enemy. 
It is not likely that it could be formed after the settle- 
ment. It is necessary to guarantee the peace ; and the 
peace cannot be guaranteed as an afterthought. The 
reason, to speak in plain terms again, why it must 
be guaranteed is that there will be parties to the peace 
whose promises have proved untrustworthy, and means 
must be found in connection with the peace settlement 
itself to remove that source of insecurity. It would 
be folly to leave the guarantee to the subsequent volun- 
tary action of the Governments we have seen destroy 
Kussia and deceive Roumania. 

But these general terms do not disclose the whole 
matter. Some details are needed to make them sound 
less like a thesis and more like a practical programme. 
These, then, are some of the particulars, and I state 
them with the greater confidence because I can state 
them authoritatively as representing this Govern- 
ment's interpretation of its own duty with regard to 
peace : 

First, the impartial justice meted out must involve 
no discrimination between those to whom we wish to 
be just and those to whom we do not wish to be just. 
It must be a justice that plays no favorites and knows 
no standard but the equal rights of the several peoples 
concerned ; 

Second, no special or separate interest of any single 



394 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

nation or any group of nations can be made the basis 
of any part of the settlement which is not consistent 
with the common interest of all; 

Third, there can be no leagues or alliances or special 
covenants and understandings within the general and 
common family of the League of Nations ; 

Fourth, and more specifically, there can be no spe- 
cial, selfish economic combinations within the League 
and no employment of any form of economic boycott 
or exclusion except as the power of economic penalty 
by exclusion from the markets of the world may be 
vested in the League of Nations itself as a means of 
discipline and control; 

Fifth, all international agreements and treaties of 
every kind must be made known in their entirely to 
the rest of the world. 

Special alliances and economic rivalries and hostili- 
ties have been the prolific source in the modern world 
of the plans and passions that produce war. It would 
be an insincere as well as insecure peace that did not 
exclude them in definite and binding terms. 

The confidence with which I venture to speak for 
our people in these matters does not spring from our 
traditions merely and the well known principles of 
international action which we have always professed 
and followed. In the same sentence in which I say 
that the United States will enter into no special ar- 
rangements or understandings with particular nations 
let me say also that the United States is prepared to 
assume its full share of responsibility for the mainte- 
nance of the common covenants and understandings 
upon which peace must henceforth rest. We still read 
Washington's immortal warning against "entangling 
alliances" with full comprehension and an answering 



GEEAT SPEECHES 395 

purpose. But only special and limited alliances en- 
tangle ; and we recognize and accept the duty of a new 
day in which we are permitted to hope for a general 
alliance which will avoid entanglements and clear 
the air of the world for common understandings and 
the maintenance of common rights. 

I have made this analysis of the international situa- 
tion which the war has created, not, of course, because 
I doubted whether the leaders of the great nations 
and peoples with whom we are associated were of the 
same mnid and entertained a like purpose, but because 
the air every now and again gets darkened by mists 
and groundless doubtings and mischievous perversions 
of counsel and it is necessary once and again to sweep 
all the irresponsible talk about peace intrigues and 
weakening morale and doubtful purpose on the part 
of those in authority utterly, and if need be uncere- 
moniously, aside and say things in the plainest words 
that can be found, even when it is only to say over 
again what has been said before, quite as plainly if 
in less unvarnished terms. 

As I have said, neither I nor any other man in gov- 
ernmental authority created or gave form to the issues 
of this war. I have simply responded to them with such 
vision as I could command. But I have responded 
gladly and with a resolution that has grown warmer 
and more confident as the issues have grown clearer 
and clearer. It is now plain that they are issues which 
no man can pervert unless it be wilfully. I am bound 
to fight for them, and happy to fight for them as time 
and circumstance have revealed them to me as to all 
the world. Our enthusiasm for them grows more and 
more irresistible as they stand out in more and more 
vivid and unmistakable outline. 



396 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

And the forces that fight for them draw into closer 
and closer array, organize their millions into more and 
more unconquerable might, as they become more and 
more distinct to the thought and purpose of the peo- 
ples engaged. It is the peculiarity of this great war 
that while statesmen have seemed to cast about for 
definitions of their purpose and have sometimes seemed 
to shift their ground and their point of view, the 
thought of the mass of men, whom statesmen are sup- 
posed to instruct and lead, has grown more and more 
unclouded, more and more certain of what it is that 
they are fighting for. National purposes have fallen 
more and more into the background and the common 
purpose of enlightened mankind has taken their place. 
The counsels of plain men have become on all hands 
more simple and straightforward and more unified than 
the counsels of sophisticated men of affairs, who still 
retain the impression that they are playing a game of 
power and playing for high stakes. That is why I 
have said that this is a peoples' war, not a statesmen's. 
Statesmen must follow the clarified common thought 
or be broken. 

I take that to be the significance of the fact that as- 
semblies and associations of many kinds made up of 
plain workaday people have demanded, almost every 
time they came together, and are still demanding, that 
the leaders of their governments declare to them plainly 
what it is, exactly what it is, that they were seeking 
in this war, and what they think the items of the 
final settlement should be. They are not yet satisfied 
with what they have been told. They still seem to fear 
that they are getting what they ask for only in states- 
men's terms, — only in the terms of territorial arrange- 
ments and divisions of power, and not in terms of 



GREAT SPEECHES 397 

broad-visioned justice and mercy and peace and the 
satisfaction of those deepseated longings of oppressed 
and distracted men and women and enslaved peoples 
that seem to them the only things worth fighting a war 
for that engulfs the world. Perhaps statesmen have 
not always recognized this changed aspect of the whole 
world of policy and action. Perhaps they have not 
always spoken in direct reply to the questions asked 
because they did not know how searching those ques- 
tions were and what sort of answers they demanded. 
But I, for one, am glad to attempt the answer again 
and again, in the hope that I may make it clearer and 
clearer that my one thought is to satisfy those who 
struggle in the ranks and are, perhaps above all others, 
entitled to a reply whose meaning no one can have 
any excuse for misunderstanding, if he understands 
the language in which it is spoken or can get someone 
to translate it correctly into his own. And I believe 
that the leaders of the governments with which we 
are associated will speak, as they have occasion, as 
plainly as I have tried to speak. I hope that they will 
feel free to say whether they think that I am in any 
degree mistaken in my interpretation of the issues in- 
volved or in my purpose with regard to the means by 
which a satisfactory settlement of those issues may be 
obtained. Unity of purpose and of counsel are as im- 
peratively necessary in this war as was unity of com- 
mand in the battlefield ; and with perfect unity of pur- 
pose and counsel will come assurance of complete vic- 
tory. It can be had in no other way. "Peace drives" 
can be effectively neutralized and silenced only by 
showing that every victory of the nations associated 
against Germany brings the nations nearer the sort of 
peace which will bring security and reassurance to all 



398 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

peoples and make the recurrence of another such strug- 
gle of pitiless force and bloodshed forever impossible, 
and that nothing else can. Germany is constantly inti- 
mating the "terms" she will accept; and always finds 
that the world does not want terms. It wishes the final 
triumph of justice and fair dealing. 



GREAT SPEECHES 399 

WILSON TO ITALY 

"All United on World League to Keep Peace" 

Your Majesty and Mr. President of the Chamber : 

You are bestowing upon me an unprecedented honor 
which I accept because I believe that it is extended 
to me as the representative of the great people for 
whom I speak. And I am going to take this first oppor- 
tunity to say how entirely the heart of the American 
people has been with the great people of Italy. 

We have seemed, no doubt, indifferent at times, to 
look from a great distance, but our hearts have never 
been far away. All sorts of ties have long bound the 
people of our America to the people of Italy, and when 
the people of the United States, knowing this people, 
have witnessed its sufferings, its sacrifices, its heroic 
actions upon the battlefield and its heroic endurance 
at home — its steadfast endurance at home touching us 
more nearly to the quick even than its heroic action on 
the battlefield — we have been bound by a new tie of 
profound admiration. 

Then back of it all, and through it all, running like 
the golden thread that wove it together, was our knowl- 
edge that the people of Italy had gone into this war 
for the same exalted principle of right and justice 
that moved our own people. And so I welcome this 
opportunity of conveying to you the heartfelt greetings 
of the people of the United States. 

But we cannot stand in the shadow of this war with- 
out knowing there are things which are in some senses 
more difficult than those we have undertaken, because, 
while it is easy to speak of right and justice, it is some- 
times difficult to work them out in practice, and there 



400 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

will be required a purity of motives and disinterested- 
ness of object which the world has never witnessed be- 
fore in the councils of nations. 

It is for that reason that it seems to me you will 
forgive me if I lay some of the elements of the new 
situation before you for a moment. 

The distinguishing fact of this war is that great 
empires have gone to pieces. And the characteristics 
of those empires are that they held different peoples 
reluctantly together under the coercion of force and 
the guidance of intrigue. 

The great difficulty among such states as those of the 
Balkans has been that they were always accessible 
to secret influence, and they were always being pene- 
trated by intrigue of some sort or another; that north 
of them lay disturbed populations which were held 
together not by sympathy and friendship but by the 
coercive force of a military power. 

Now the intrigue is checked and the bands are 
broken, and what we are going to provide is a new 
cement to hold the people together. They have not 
been accustomed to being independent. They must 
now be independent. 

I am sure that you recognize the principle as I do — 
that it is not our privilege to say what sort of a govern- 
ment they should set up. But we are friends of those 
people, and it is our duty as their friends to see to it 
that some kind of protection is thrown around them — 
something supplied which will hold them together. 

There is only one thing that holds nations together, 
if you exclude force, and that is friendship and good 
will. The only thing that binds men together is friend- 
ship, and by the same token the only thing that bids 
nations together is friendship. Therefore, our task at 



GKEAT SPEECHES 401 

Paris is to organize the friendship of the world — to see 
to it that all the moral forces that make for right and 
justice and liberty are united and are given a vital 
organization to which the peoples of the world will 
readily and gladly respond. 

In other words, our task is no less colossal than this : 
To set up a new international psychology; to have a 
new real atmosphere. 

I am happy to say that in my dealings with the dis- 
tinguished gentlemen who lead your nation, and those 
who lead France and England, I feel that atmosphere 
gathering, that desire to do justice, that desire to estab- 
lish friendliness, that desire to make peace rest upon 
right, and with this common purpose no obstacles need 
be formidable. 

The only use of an obstacle is to be overcome. All 
that an obstacle does with brave men is not to frighten 
them, but to challenge them. So that it ought to be our 
pride to overcome everything that stands in the way. 

We know that there cannot be another balance of 
power. That has been tried and found wanting, for 
the best of all reasons, that it does not stay balanced 
inside itself, and a weight which does not hold together 
cannot constitute a make-weight in the affairs of men. 

Therefore there must be something substituted for 
the balance of power, and I am happy to find every- 
where in the air of these great nations the conception 
that that thing must be a thoroughly united league of 
nations. 

What men once considered theoretical and idealistic 
turns out to be practical and necessary. We stand at 
the opening of a new age, in which a new statesman- 
ship will, I am confident, lift mankind to new levels of 
endeavor and achievements. 



402 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

(During his speech the President constantly was in- 
terrupted by outbursts of applause, and when he ended 
he received cheers which lasted until he passed through 
the exit of the building. Outside the throngs in the 
street took up the demonstration, which continued 
until the doors of the Quirinal closed behind Mr. 
Wilson.) 



GREAT SPEECHES 403 

THE PRESIDENT'S PARIS SPEECH 

Paris, France, Dec. 14, 1918. 

President and Mme. Poincare gave a luncheon at the 
Palace de l'Elysee in honor of President and Mrs. Wil- 
son. President Wilson on this occasion spoke as fol- 
lows, in replying to an address by President Poincare : 
Mr. President: 

I am deeply indebted to you for your gracious greet- 
ing. It is very delightful to find myself in France and 
to feel the quick contact of sympathy and unaffected 
friendship between the representatives of the United 
States and the representatives of France. 

You have been very generous in what you were 
pleased to say about myself, but I feel that what I have 
said and what I have tried to do have been said and 
done only in an attempt to speak the thought of the 
people of the United States truly and to carry that 
thought out in action. 

From the first the thought of the people of the United 
States turned toward something more than the mere 
winning of this war. It turned to the establishment 
of eternal principles of right and justice. It realized 
that merely to win the war was not enough ; that it must 
be won in such a way and the questions raised by it 
settled in such a way as to insure the future peace of 
the world and lay the foundations for the freedom 
and happiness of its many peoples and nations. 

Never before has war worn so terrible a visage or 
exhibited more grossly the debasing influence of illicit 
ambitions. I am sure that I shall look upon the ruin 
wrought by the armies of the central empires with the 
same repulsion and deep indignation that they stir in 



404 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

the hearts of the men of France and Belgium and I ap- 
preciate as you do, sir, the necessity of such action in 
the final settlement of the issues of the war as not only 
will rebuke such acts of terror and spoliation, but 
make men everywhere aware that they cannot be ven- 
tured upon without the certainty of just punishment. 

I know with what ardor and enthusiasm the soldiers 
and sailors of the United States have given the best 
that was in them in this war of redemption. They 
have expressed the true spirit of America. They be- 
lieve their ideals to be acceptable to free peoples every- 
where and are rejoiced to have played the part they 
have played in giving reality to those ideals in co-oper- 
ation with the armies of the allies. 

We are proud of the part they have played and we 
are happy that they should have been associated with 
such comrades in a common cause. 

It will daily be a matter of pleasure with me to be 
myself in France, joining with you in rejoicing over 
the victory that has been won. The ties that bind 
France and the United States are peculiarly close. I 
do not know in what other comradeship we could have 
fought with more zest or enthusiasm. 

It will daily be a matter of pleasrue with me to be 
brought into consultation with the statesmen of France 
and her allies in concerting the measures by which we 
may secure permanence for these happy relations of 
friendship and co-operation and secure for the world 
at large such safety and freedom in its life as can be 
secured only by the constant association and co-opera- 
tion of friends. 

I greet you, not only with deep personal respect, but 
as the representative of the great people of France, 
and beg to bring you the greetings of another great 



GREAT SPEECHES 405 

people to whom the fortunes of France are of profound 
and lasting interest. 

I raise my glass to the health of the president of the 
French republic and to Mme. Poineare and the prosper- 
ity of France. 

In his address to President Wilson, President Poin- 
eare said : 
Mr. President : 

Paris and France awaited you with impatience. They 
were eager to acclaim in you the illustrious democrat 
whose words and deeds were inspired by exalted 
thought, the philosopher delighting in the solution of 
universal laws from particular events, the eminent 
statesman who had found a way to express the highest 
political and moral truths in formulas, which bear the 
stamp of immortality. 

They had also a passionate desire to offer thanks, 
in your person, to the great republic of which you are 
the chief, for the invaluable assistance which had been 
given spontaneously, during this war, to the defenders 
of right and liberty. 

Even before America had resolved to intervene in 
the struggle she had shown for the wounded and or- 
phans of France a solicitude and a generosity the mem- 
ory of which will always be enshrined in our hearts. 

The liberality of your Red Cross, the countless gifts 
of your fellow citizens, the inspiring initiative of Amer- 
ican women, anticipated your military and naval ac- 
tion and showed the world to which side your sympa- 
thies inclined. And, on the day when you flung your- 
selves into the battle, with what determination your 
great people and yourself prepared for united success. 

Some months ago you cabled to me that the United 
States would send ever increasing forces until the day 



406 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

should be reached on which the allies' armies were able 
to submerge the enemy under an overwhelming flow 
of new divisions and in effect for more than a year a 
steady stream of youth and energy has been poured 
out upon the shores of Prance. 

No sooner had they landed than your gallant bat- 
talions, fired by their chief, General Pershing, flung 
themselves into the combat with such a manly con- 
tempt of danger, such a smiling disregard of death, 
that our longer experience of this terrible war often 
moved us to counsel prudence. They brought with 
them, in arriving here, the enthusiasm of crusaders 
leaving for the holy land. 

It is their right today to look with pride upon the 
work accomplished and to feel assured that they have 
powerfully aided by their courage and their faith. 

Eager as they were to meet the enemy, they did not 
know when they arrived the enormity of his crimes. 
That they might know how the German armies make 
war it has been necessary that they see towns sys- 
tematically burned down, mines flooded, factories re- 
duced to ashes, orchards devastated, cathedrals shelled 
and fired — all that deliberated savagery aimed to de- 
stroy national wealth, nature and beauty, which the 
imagination could not conceive at a distance from the 
men and things that have endured it and today bear 
witness to it. 

You, Mr. President, will be able to measure with your 
own eyes the extent of the disasters, and the French 
government will make known to you the authentic doc- 
uments in which the German general staff developed 
with astounding cynicism its program of pillage and 
industrial annihilation. Your noble conscience will 
pronounce a verdict on these facts. 



GEEAT SPEECHES 407 

Should this guilt remain unpunished, could it be re- 
newed, the most splendid victories would be in vain. 

Mr. President, France has struggled, has endured and 
has suffered during four long years; she has bled at 
every vein; she has lost the best of her children; she 
mourns for her youths. She yearns now, even as you 
do, for a peace of justice and security. 

It was not that she might be exposed once again to 
aggression that she submitted to such sacrifices. Nor 
was it in order that criminals should go unpunished, 
that they might lift their heads again to make ready 
for new crimes, that under your strong leadership 
America armed herself and crossed the ocean. 

Faithful to the memory of Lafayette and Rocham- 
beau, she came to the aid of France because France 
herself was faithful to her traditions. Our common 
ideal has triumphed. Together we have defended the 
vital principles of free nations. 

Now we must build together such a peace as will 
forbid the deliberate and hypocritical renewing of an 
organism aiming at conquest and oppression. 

Peace must make amends for the misery and sadness 
of yesterday and it must be a guaranty against the 
dangers of tomorrow. The association which has been 
formed for the purpose of war between the United 
States and the allies, and which contains the seed of 
the permanent institutions of which you have spoken 
so eloquently, will find from this day forward a clear 
and profitable employment in the concerted search for 
equitable decisions, and in the mutual support which 
we need if we are to make our rights prevail. 

Whatever safeguards we may erect for the future 
no one, alas, can assert that we shall forever spare to 
mankind the horrors of new wars. Five years ago the 



408 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

progress of science and the state of civilization might 
have permitted the hope that no government, however 
autocratic, would have succeeded in hurling armed 
nations upon Belgium and Serbia. 

Without lending ourselves to the illusion that pos- 
terity will be forever more safe from these collective 
follies, we must introduce into the peace we are going 
to build up all the conditions of justice and all the 
safeguards of civilization that we can put in it. 

To such a vast and magnificent task, Mr. President, 
you have chosen to come and apply yourself in concert 
with France. France offers you her thanks. She 
knows the friendship of America. She knows your 
rectitude and elevation of spirit. It is in the fullest 
confidence that she is ready to work with you. 

I lift my glass, Mr. President, in your honor and in 
honor of Mrs. Wilson. I drink to the prosperity of the 
republic of the United States, our great friend of yes- 
terday and of other days, of tomorrow and of all time ! 



GREAT SPEECHES 409 

PRESIDENT IN ADDRESS TO TROOPS 
AT CHAUMONT PRAISES WORK 

Chaumont, France, Dec. 25, 1918. 

President Wilson in addressing the American soldiers 
today said that he did not find in the hearts of the great 
leaders with whom he was co-operating any difference 
of principle or of fundamental purpose. President Wil- 
son said: 

General Pershing and Fellow Comrades : 

I wish that I could give to each one of you the message 
that I know you are longing to receive from those at 
home who love you. I cannot do that, but I can tell 
you how every one has put his heart into it. So you 
have done your duty and something more. You have 
done your duty and you have done it with a spirit 
which gave it distinction and glory. 

And now we are to hail the fruits of everything. 
You conquered, when you came over, what you came 
over for and you have done what it was appointed for 
you to do. I know what you expected of me. 

Some time ago a gentleman from one of the coun- 
tries with which we are associated was discussing with 
me the moral aspects of this war, and I said that if 
we did not insist upon the high purpose which we 
have accomplished the end would not be justified. 

Everybody at home is proud of you and has followed 
every movement of this great army with confidence 
and affection. 

The whole people of the United States are now wait- 
ing to welcome you home with an acclaim which prob- 
ably has never greeted any other army, because our 



410 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

country is like this country, we have been so proud of 
the stand taken, of the purpose for which this war 
was entered by the United States. 

You knew what we expected of you, and you did it. 
I know what you and the people at home expected of 
me; and I am happy to say, my fellow countrymen, 
that I do not find in the hearts of the great leaders 
with whom it is my privilege now to co-operate any 
difference of principle or of fundamental purpose. 

It happened that it was the privilege of America to 
present the chart for peace, and now the process of 
settlement has been made comparatively simple by the 
fact that all the nations concerned have accepted that 
chart, and the application of these principles laid down 
there will be their application. 

The world will now know that the nations that fought 
this war, as well as the soldiers who represented them, 
are ready to make good, make good not only in the as- 
sertion of their own interests, but make good in the 
establishment of peace upon the permanent foundation 
of right and of justice. 

Because this is not a war in which the soldiers of 
the free nations have obeyed masters. You have com- 
manders, but you have no masters. Your very com- 
manders represent you in representing the nation, of 
which you constitute so distinguished a part. 

And everybody concerned in the settlement knows 
that it must be a people 's peace and that nothing must 
be done in the settlement of the issues of the war which 
is not as handsome as the great achievements of the 
armies of the United States and the allies. 

It is difficult, very difficult, men, in any normal 
speech like this, to show you my real heart. You men 
probably do not realize with what anxious attention 



GREAT SPEECHES 411 

and care we have followed every step you have ad- 
vanced and how proud we are that every step was in 
advance and not in retreat; that every time you set 
your face in any direction you kept your face in that 
direction. 

A thrill has gone through my heart as it has gone 
through the hearts of every American, with almost 
every gun that was fired and every stroke that was 
struck in the gallant fighting that you have done, and 
there has been only one regret in America, and that 
was the regret that every man there felt that he was 
not over there in France, too. 

It has been a hard thing to perform the tasks in the 
United States ; it has been a hard thing to take part in 
directing what you did without coming over and help- 
ing you to do it. It has taken a lot of moral courage 
to stay at home. 

But we are proud to back you up everywhere that 
it was possible to back you up. And now I am happy 
to find what splendid names you have made for your- 
self among the civilian population of Prance as well as 
among your comrades in the armies of the French, 
and it is a fine testimony to you men that these people 
like you and love you and trust you, and the finest 
part of it all is that you deserve their trust. 

I feel a comradeship with you today which is delight- 
ful, as I look down upon these undisturbed fields and 
think of the terrible scenes through which you have 
gone and realize how the quiet of peace, the tran- 
quillity of settled hopes has descended upon us. And, 
while it is hard far away from home confidently to bid 
you a merry Christmas, I can, I think, confidently 
promise you a happy New Year, and I can from the bot- 
tom of my heart say God bless you. 



412 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

PRESIDENT WILSON'S LONDON 
SPEECH 

London, Dec. 28, 1918. 
Mr. Lord Mayor: 

We have come upon times when ceremonies like this 
have a new significance which most profoundly im- 
presses me as I stand here. The address which I have 
just heard is most generously and graciously conceived, 
and the delightful accent of sincerity in it seems like 
a part of that voice of counsel which is now every- 
where to be heard. 

I feel that a distinguished honor has been conferred 
upon me by this reception, and I beg to assure you, 
sir, and your associates, of my very profound apprecia- 
tion, but I know that I am only a part of what I may 
call a great body of circumstances. 

I do not believe that it was fancy on my part that 
I heard in the voice of welcome uttered in the streets 
of this great city and in the streets of Paris something 
more than a personal welcome. It seemed to me that 
I heard the voice of one people speaking to another 
people, and it was a voice in which one could distin- 
guish a singular combination of emotions. 

There was surely there the deep gratefulness that 
the fighting was over. There was the pride that the 
fighting had had such a culmination. There was that 
sort of gratitude that the nation engaged had produced 
such men as the soldiers of Great Britain and of the 
United States and of France and of Italy — men whose 
prowess and achievements they had witnessed with ris- 
ing admiration as they moved from culmination to 
culmination. 



GREAT SPEECHES 413 

But there was something more in it — the conscious- 
ness that the business is not yet done, the consciousness 
that it now rests upon others to see that those 
lives were not lost in vain. 

I have not yet been to the actual battlefield, but I 
have been with many of the men who have fought the 
battles, and the other day I had the pleasure of being 
present at a session of the French Academy when they 
admitted Marshal Joffre to their membership. That 
sturdy, serene soldier stood and uttered, not the words 
of triumph, but summed up in a sentence which I will 
not try accurately to quote, but reproduce in spirit. 

It was that France must always remember that the 
small and the weak could never live free in the world 
unless the strong and the great always put their power 
and their strength in the service of right. 

That is the afterthought — the thought that some- 
thing must be done now; not only to make the just 
settlements — that of course — but to see that the set- 
tlements remained and were observed and that honor 
and justice prevails in the world. 

And as I have conversed with the soldiers I have 
been more and more aware that they fought for some- 
thing that not all of them had defined, but which all 
of them recognized the moment you stated it to them. 

They fought to do away with an old order and to 
establish a new one, and the center and characteristic 
of the old order was that unstable thing which we 
used to call the "balance of power," a thing in which 
the balance was determined by the sword which was 
thrown in on the one side or the other, a balance which 
was determined by the unstable equilibrium of com- 
petitive interests, a balance which was maintained by 
jealous watchfulness and an antagonism of interests 



414 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

which, though it was generally latent, was always 
deep seated. 

The men who have fought in this war have been the 
men from the free nations who are determined that 
that sort of thing should end now and forever. It is 
very interesting to me to observe how from every quar- 
ter, from every sort of mind, from every concert of 
counsel there comes the suggestion that there must 
now be not a balance of power, not one powerful group 
of nations set up against another, but a single, over- 
whelming, powerful group of nations who shall be the 
trust of the peace of the world. 

It has been delightful in my conferences with the 
leaders of your government to find how our minds 
moved along exactly the same line and how our thought 
was always that the key to the peace was the guaran- 
tee of the peace, not the items of it; that the items 
would be worthless unless there stood back of them a 
permanent concert of power for their maintenance. 
That is the most reassuring thing that has ever hap- 
pened in the world. 

When this war began the thought of a league of na- 
tions was indulgently considered as the interesting 
thought of closeted students. It was thought of as one 
of those things that it was right to characterize by a 
name which, as a university man, I have always re- 
sented. It was said to be academic, as if that in itself 
were a condemnation — something that men could think 
about but never get. 

Now we find the practical leading minds of the world 
determined to get it. 

No such sudden and potent union of purpose has 
ever been witnessed in the world before. Do you won- 
der, therefore, gentlemen, that in common with those 



GREAT SPEECHES 415 

who represent you I am eager to get at the business and 
write the sentences down? And that I am particularly 
happy that the ground is cleared and the foundation 
laid — for we have already accepted the same body of 
principles. Those principles are clearly and definitely 
enough stated to make their application a matter which 
should afford no fundamental difficulty. 

And back of us is that imperative yearning of the 
world to have all disturbing questions quieted, to have 
all threats against peace silenced, to have just men 
everywhere come together for a common object. 

The peoples of the world want peace and they want 
it now, not merely by conquest of arms but by agree- 
ment of mind. 

It was this incomparably great object that brought 
me overseas. 

It has never before been deemed excusable for a 
President of the United States to leave the territory of 
the United States, but I know that I have the support 
of the judgment of my colleagues in the government of 
the United States in saying that it was my paramount 
duty to turn away even from the imperative tasks at 
home to lend such counsel and aid as I could to this 
great, may I not say final, enterprise of humanity. 
Mr. Lord Mayor, Your Royal Highness, Your Grace, 

Ladies and Gentlemen: 

You have again made me feel, sir, the very wonderful 
and generous welcome of this great city and you have 
reminded me of what has perhaps become one of the 
habits of my life. 

You have said that I have broken all precedents in 
coming across the ocean to join in the counsels of the 
peace conference, but I think those who have been asso- 
ciated with me in Washington will testify that that is 



416 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

nothing surprising. I said to the members of the press 
in Washington one evening that one of the things that 
had interested me most since I lived in Washington 
was that every time I did anything perfectly natural 
it was said to be unprecedented. 

It was perfectly natural to break this precedent, 
natural because the demand for intimate conference 
took precedence over every other duty. And, after all, 
the breaking of precedents, though this may sound 
strange doctrine in England, is the most sensible thing 
to do. The harness of precedent is sometimes a very 
sad and harassing trammel. 

In this case the breaking of precedent is sensible for 
a reason that is very prettily illustrated in a remark 
attributed to Charles Lamb. One evening in a com- 
pany of his friends they were discussing a person who 
was not present and Lamb said, in his hesitating man- 
ner, "I h-hate that fellow." "Why, Charles," one of 
his friends said, "I did not know that you knew him." 
"Oh," he said, "I, I, I d-don't. I c-ean't h-hate a man 
I know." 

And perhaps that simple and attractive remark may 
furnish a secret for cordial international relationship. 
When we know one another we cannot hate one an- 
other. 

I have been very much interested before coming here 
to see what sort of a person I was expected to be. So 
far as I can make out, I was expected to be a perfectly 
bloodless thinking machine, whereas I am perfectly 
aware that I have in me all the insurgent elements of 
the human race. I am sometimes, by reason of long 
Scotch tradition, able to keep these instincts in re- 
straint. The stern covenanter tradition that is behind 
me sends many an echo down the years. It is not only 



GREAT SPEECHES 417 

diligently to pursue business, but also to seek this sort 
of comradeship, that I feel it is a privilege to have 
come across the seas and, in the welcome that you have 
accorded Mrs. Wilson and me, you have made us feel 
that companionship was accessible to us in the most 
delightful and enjoyable form. 

I thank you sincerely for this welcome, sir, and am 
very happy to join in a love feast which is all the more 
enjoyable because there is behind it a background of 
tragical suffering. Our spirits are released from the 
darkness of the clouds that at one time seemed to have 
settled upon the world in a way that could not be dis- 
persed, the sufferings of your own people, the suffering 
of the people of Prance, and the infinite suffering of the 
people of Belgium. The whisper of grief that has been 
blown all through the world is now silent and the sun 
of hope seems to spread its rays and to change the 
earth with a new prospect of happiness. So, our joy 
is all the more elevated because we know that our 
spirits are now lifted out of that valley. 



418 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

LEAGUE OR REBELLION, WILSON 

WARNS 

Governor Coolidge, Mr. Mayor, Fellow Citizens : 

I wonder if you are half as glad to see me as I am to 
see you. It warms my heart to see a great body of my 
fellow citizens again, because in some respects during 
the recent months I have been very lonely indeed with- 
out your comradeship and counsel, and I tried at every 
step of the work which fell to me to recall what I was 
sure would be your counsel with regard to the great 
matters which were under consideration. 

I do not want you to think that I have not been ap- 
preciative of the extraordinarily generous reception 
which was given to me on the other side in saying that 
it makes me very happy to get home again. I do not 
mean to say that I was not very deeply touched by the 
cries that came from the great crowds on the other 
side. 

But I want to say to you in all honesty that I felt 
them to be a call of greeting to you rather than to me. 
I did not feel that the greeting was personal. I had in 
my heart the overcrowning pride of being your repre- 
sentative and of receiving the plaudits of men every- 
where who felt that your hearts beat with theirs in the 
cause of liberty. 

There was no mistaking the tone in the voices of 
those great crowds. It was not a tone of mere greet- 
ing; it was not a tone of mere generous welcome — it 
was the calling of comrade to comrade, the cries that 
come from men who say: "We have waited for this 
day when the friends of liberty should come across the 
sea and shake hands with us, to see that a new world 



GKEAT SPEECHES 419 

was constructed upon a new basis and foundation of 
justice and right." 

I can't tell you the inspiration that came from the 
sentiments that came out of those simple voices of the 
crowd. And the proudest thing I have to report to you 
is that this great country of ours is trusted throughout 
the world. 

I have not come to report the proceedings or the 
results of the proceedings of the peace conference — that 
would be premature. 

I can say that I have received very happy impres- 
sions from this conference, the impression that while 
there are many differences of judgment, while there are 
some divergencies of object, there is nevertheless a com- 
mon spirit and a common realization of the necessity of 
setting up new standards of right in the world. 

Because the men who are in conference in Paris real- 
ize as keenly as any American can realize that they 
are not the masters of their people ; that they are the 
servants of their people and that the spirit of their 
people has awakened to a new purpose and a new 
conception of their power to realize that purpose, and 
that no man dare go home from that conference and 
report anything less noble than was expected of it. 

The conference seems to you to go slowly ; from day 
to day in Paris it seems to go slowly; but I wonder 
if you realize the complexity of the task which it has 
undertaken. It seems as if the settlements of this war 
affect, and affect directly, every great, and I some- 
times think every small, nation in the world, and no 
one decision can prudently be made which is not prop- 
erly linked in with the great series of other decisions 
which must accompany it. 

And it must be reckoned in with the final result if 



420 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

the real quality and character of that result is to be 
properly judged. 

What we are doing is to hear the whole case; hear 
it from the mouths of the men most interested; hear 
it from those who are officially commissioned to state 
it; hear the rival claims, hear the claims that affect 
new nationalities; that affect new areas of the world; 
that affect new commercial and economical connec- 
tions that have been established by the great world 
war through which we have gone. 

And I have been struck by the moderateness of those 
who have represented national claims. 

I can testify that I have nowhere seen the gleam of 
passion. I have seen earnestness, I have seen tears 
come to the eyes of men who pleaded for downtrodden 
people whom they were privileged to speak for; but 
they were not the tears of anguish, they were the tears 
of ardent hope. 

And I don't see how any man can fail to have been 
subdued by these pleas, subdued to this feeling, that 
he was not there to assert an individual judgment of 
his own, but to try to assist the case of humanity. 

And in the midst of it all every interest seeks out 
first of all, when it reaches Paris, the representatives of 
the United States? Why? Because, and I think I am 
stating the most wonderful fact in history — because 
there is no nation in Europe that suspects the motives 
of the United States. 

"Was there ever so wonderful a thing seen before? 
Was there ever so moving a thing? Was there ever any 
fact that so bound the nation that had won that esteem 
forever to deserve it? 

I would not have you understand that the great men 
who represent the other nations there in conference are 



GEE AT SPEECHES 421 

disesteemed by those who know them. Quite the con- 
trary. 

But you understand that the nations of Europe have 
again and again clashed with one another in competi- 
tive interest. It is impossible for men to forget those 
sharp issues that were drawn between them in times 
past. 

It is impossible for men to believe that all ambitions 
have all of a sudden been foregone. They remember 
territory that was coveted; they remember rights that 
it was attempted to extort; they remember political 
ambitions which it was attempted to realize — and, 
while they believe that men have come into a different 
temper, they cannot forget these things, and so they 
do not resort to one another for a dispassionate view 
of the matters in controversy. 

They resort to that nation which has won the en- 
viable distinction of being regarded as the friend of 
mankind. 

Whenever it is desired to send a small force of sol- 
diers to occupy a piece of territory where it is thought 
nobody else will be welcome, they ask for American 
soldiers. 

And where other soldiers would be looked upon with 
suspicion and perhaps met with resistance, the Amer- 
ican soldier is welcomed with acclaim. 

I have had so many grounds for pride on the other 
side of the water that I am very thankful that they 
are not grounds for personal pride. I'd be the most 
stuck up man in the world. 

And it has been an infinite pleasure to me to see those 
gallant soldiers of ours, of whom the Constitution of 
the United States made me the proud commander. You 
may be proud of the 26th Division [Boston and New 



422 PEESIDENT WILSON'S 

England troops], but I commanded the 26th Division, 
and see what they did under my direction ! And every- 
body praises the American soldier with the feeling that 
in praising him he is subtracting from the credit of no 
one else. 

I have been searching for the fundamental fact that 
converted Europe to believe in us. Before this war 
Europe did not believe in us as she does now. 

She did not believe in us throughout the first three 
years of the war. She seems really to have believed 
that we were holding off because we thought we could 
make more by staying out than by going in. 

And all of a sudden, in a short eighteen months, the 
whole verdict is reversed. There can be but one ex- 
planation for it. 

They saw what we did — that without making a sin- 
gle claim we put all our men and all our means at the 
disposal of those who were fighting for their homes, in 
the first instance, but for a cause, the cause of human 
rights and justice, and that we went in, not to support 
their national claims, but to support the great cause 
which they held in common. 

And when they saw that America not only held ideals, 
but acted ideals, they were converted to America and 
became firm partisans of those ideals. 

I met a group of scholars when I was in Paris — some 
gentlemen from one of the Greek universities who had 
come to see me, and in whose presence, or, rather, in 
the presence of whose traditions of learning, I felt very 
young indeed. 

I told them that I had one of the delightful revenges 
that sometimes come to a man. 

All my life I had heard men speak with a sort of 
condescension of ideals and of idealists, and particularly 



GREAT SPEECHES 423 

those separated, cloistered persons whom they choose 
to term academic, who were in the habit of uttering 
ideals in the free atmosphere when they clash with no- 
body in particular. 

And, I said, I have had this sweet revenge. Speaking 
with perfect frankness in the name of the people of the 
United States, I have uttered as the objects of this 
great war ideals, and nothing but ideals, and the war 
has been won by that inspiration. 

Men were fighting with tense muscle and lowered 
head until they came to realize those things, feeling 
they were fighting for their lives and their country, 
and when these accents of what it was all about reached 
them from America they lifted their heads, they raised 
their eyes to heaven, when they saw men in khaki com- 
ing across the sea in the spirit of crusaders, and they 
found that these were strange men, reckless of danger 
not only, but reckless because they seemed to see some- 
thing that made danger worth while. 

Men have testified to me in Europe that our men 
were possessed by something that they could only call 
a religious fervor. They were not like any of the other 
soldiers. 

They had a vision, they had a dream, and they were 
fighting in the dream, and, fighting in the dream, they 
turned the whole tide of battle, and it never came back. 

One of our American humorists, meeting the criti- 
cism that American soldiers were not trained long 
enough, said: ''It takes only half as long to train an 
American soldier as any other, because you only have 
to train him one way " ; and he did only go one way, and 
he never came back until he could do it when he 
pleased. 

And now do you realize that this confidence we have 



424 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

established throughout the world imposes a burden 
upon us — if you choose to call it a burden? 

It is one of those burdens which any nation ought 
to be proud to carry. 

Any man who resists the present tides that run in 
the world will find himself thrown upon a shore so high 
and barren that it will seem as if he had been separated 
from his human kind forever. 

The Europe I left the other day was full of some- 
thing that it had never felt fill its heart so full before. 
It was full of hope. 

The Europe of the second year of the war, the Eu- 
rope of the third year of the war, was sinking to a sort 
of stubborn desperation. They did not see any great 
thing to be achieved even when the war should be won. 
They hoped there would be some salvage; they hoped 
that they could clear their territories of invading 
armies ; they hoped they could set up their homes and 
start their industries afresh. But they thought it would 
simply be the resumption of the old life that Europe 
had led — led in fear, led in anxiety, led in constant sus- 
picious watchfulness. They never dreamed that it 
would be a Europe of settled peace and of justified 
hope. 

And now these ideals have wrought this new magic, 
that all the peoples of Europe are buoyed up and con- 
fident in the spirit of hope, because they believe that 
we are at the eve of a new age in the world when na- 
tions will understand one another, when nations will 
support one another in every just cause, when nations 
will unite every moral and every physical strength to 
see that the right shall prevail. 

If America were at this juncture to fail the world, 
what would come of it? I do not mean any disrespect 



GKEAT SPEECHES 425 

to any other great people when I say that America is 
the hope of the world ; and if she does not justify that 
hope the results are unthinkable. Men will be thrown 
back upon the bitterness of disappointment not only, 
but the bitterness of despair. All nations will be set 
up as hostile camps again; the men at the peace con- 
ference will go home with their heads upon their 
breasts, knowing that they have failed — for they were 
bidden not to come home from there until they did 
something more than sign a treaty of peace. 

Suppose we sign the treaty of peace and that it is the 
most satisfactory treaty of peace that the confusing 
elements of the modern world will afford and go home 
and think about our labors ; we will know that we have 
left written upon the historic table at Versailles, upon 
which Vergennes and Benjamin Franklin wrote their 
names, nothing but a modern scrap of paper; no na- 
tions united to defend it, no great forces combined to 
make it good, no assurance given to the downtrodden 
and fearful people of the world that they shall be safe. 
Any man who thinks that America will take part in 
giving the world any such rebuff and disappointment 
as that does not know America. 

I invite him to test the sentiments of the nation. "We 
set this up to make men free and we did not confine our 
conception and purpose to America and now we will 
make men free. If we did not do that the fame of 
America would be gone and all her powers would be 
dissipated. She then would have to keep her power 
for those narrow, selfish, provincial purposes which 
seem so dear to some minds that have no sweep beyond 
the nearest horizon. 

I should welcome no sweeter challenge than that. I 
have fighting blood in me and it is sometimes a delight 



426 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

to let it have scope, but if it is a challenge on this oc- 
casion it will be an indulgence. 

Think of the picture, think of the utter blackness 
that would fall on the world. America has failed! 
America made a little essay at generosity and then 
withdrew. 

America said : ' ' We are your friends, ' ' but it was 
only for today, not for tomorrow. America said: 
"Here is our power to vindicate right" and then the 
next day said : ' ' Let right take care of itself and we 
will take care of ourselves." America said: "We set 
up a light to lead men along the paths of liberty, but 
we have lowered it. It is intended only to light our 
own path." We set up a great ideal of liberty and then 
was said: "Liberty is a thing that you must win for 
yourself. Do not call upon us," and think of the world 
that we would leave. 

Do you realize how many new nations are going to be 
set up in the presence of old and powerful nations in 
Europe and left there, if left by us, without a disinter- 
ested friend ? 

Do you believe in the Polish cause, as I do ? Are you 
going to set up Poland, immature, inexperienced, as 
yet unorganized, and leave her with a circle of armies 
around her? Do you believe in the aspiration of the 
Czecho-Slovaks and the Jugo-Slavs as I do? Do you 
know how many powers would be quick to pounce upon 
them if there were not the guarantees of the world be- 
hind their liberty? 

Have you thought of the suffering of Armenia ? You 
poured out your money to help succor the Armenians 
after they suffered, now set your strength so that they 
shall never suffer again. 

The arrangements of the present peace cannot stand 



GREAT SPEECHES 427 

a generation unless they are guaranteed by the united 
forces of the civilized world. And if we do not guar- 
antee them, cannot you not see the picture? Your 
hearts have instructed you where the burden of this 
war fell. It did not fall upon the national treasuries, 
it did not fall upon the instruments of administration, 
it did not fall upon the resources of the nations. It 
fell upon the victims' homes everywhere, where women 
were toiling in hope that their men would come back. 

When I think of the homes upon which dull despair 
would settle were this great hope disappointed, I should 
wish for my part never to have had America play any 
part whatever in this attempt to emancipate the world. 
But I talk as if it were any question. I have no more 
doubt of the verdict of America in this matter than I 
have doubt of the blood that is in me. 

And so, my fellow citizens, I have come back to re- 
port progress, and I do not believe that the progress 
is going to stop short of the goal. The nations of the 
world have set their heads now to do a great thing, 
and they are not going to slacken their purpose. 

And when I speak of the nations of the world I do 
not speak of the governments of the world. I speak 
of the peoples who constitute the nations of the world. 
They are in the saddle, and they are going to see to it 
that if their present governments do not do their will, 
some other governments shall. And the secret is out, 
and the present governments know it. 

There is a great deal of harmony to be got out of 
common knowledge. There is a great deal of sympathy 
to be got out of living in the same atmosphere, and 
except for the differences of languages, which puzzled 
my American ear very sadly, I could have believed I 
was at home in France or in Italy or in England when 



428 PRESIDENT WILSON'S 

I was on the streets, when I was in the presence of the 
crowds, when I was in great halls where men were 
gathered together irrespective of class. I do not feel 
quite as much at home there as I do here, but I felt 
that now, at any rate, after this storm of war had 
cleared the air, men were seeing eye to eye everywhere 
and that these were the kind of folks who would under- 
stand what the kind of folks at home would understand 
and that they were thinking the same things. 

I feel about you as I am reminded of a story of that 
excellent wit and good artist, Oliver Herford, who one 
day, sitting at luncheon at his club, was slapped vigor- 
ously on the back by a man whom he did not know 
very well. He said : ' ' Oliver, old boy, how are you ? ' ' 
He looked at him rather coldly. He said: "I don't 
know your name, I don't know your face, but your 
manners are very familiar. ' ' And I must say that your 
manners are very familiar, and, let me add, very de- 
lightful. 

It is a great comfort for one thing to realize that 
you all understand the language I am speaking. A 
friend of mine said that to talk through an interpreter 
was like witnessing the compound fracture of an idea. 
But the beauty of it is that, whatever the impediments 
of the channel of communication, the idea is the same ; 
that it gets registered, and it gets registered in respon- 
sive hearts and receptive purposes. 

I have come back for a strenuous attempt to transact 
business for a little while in America, but I have really 
come back to say to you in all soberness and honesty, 
that I have been trying my best to speak your thoughts. 

When I sample myself I think I find that I am a 
typical American, and if I sample deep enough and get 
down to what is probably the true stuff of a man, then 



GREAT SPEECHES 429 

I have hope that it is part of the stuff that is like the 
other fellows at home. 

And, therefore, probing deep in my heart and trying 
to see the things that are right without regard to the 
things that may be debated as expedient, I feel that I 
am interpreting the purpose and the thought of Amer- 
ica, and in loving America I find I have joined the great 
majority of my fellow men throughout the world. 



TO THE NEW ARMY 

Message of President Wilson to Men Called to 
Nation's Service 

"The White House, 

Washington, D. C, Sept. 3, 1917. 

' * To the Soldiers of the National Army : 

1 ' Yon are undertaking a great duty. The heart of the 
whole country is with you. Everything that you do will 
be watched with the deepest interest and with the deepest 
solicitude not only by those who are near and dear to you, 
but by the whole nation besides. For this great war 
draws us all together, makes us all comrades and brothers, 
as all true Americans felt themselves to be when we first 
made good our national independence. The eyes of all 
the world will be upon you, because you are in some 
special sense the soldiers of freedom. Let it be your pride, 
therefore, to show all men everywhere not only what 
good soldiers you are, but also what good men you are, 
keeping yourselves fit and straight in everything and 
pure and clean through and through. Let us set for 
ourselves a standard so high that it will be a glory to live 
up to it and add a new laurel to the crown of America. 
My affectionate confidence goes with you in every battle 
and every test. God keep you and guide you ! 

"Woodrow Wilson." 



Autographs of Members 

of the 
House of Representatives. 



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